New York, October 26, 2023 – The Children’s Law Center (CLC) is pleased to announce the appointment of Judge Liberty Aldrich as Executive Director, effective December 4, 2023. Aldrich, who has been serving as a Bronx, New York-based Family Court judge since 2021, has nearly three decades of experience in family law, access to justice, and nonprofit management. She served as chair of the training committee of the New York City Family Court Judges Association.
CLC’s mission is to give children strong and effective voices in legal proceedings that have a critical impact on their lives. At CLC, Aldrich’s proven ability to innovate, combined with her successful track record in resource development, inspiring staff, and overseeing a complex budget, will drive growth. She will provide solid leadership to CLC’s team of talented and committed lawyers and staff while expanding partnerships and community engagement. Throughout her distinctive career, Aldrich has been deeply engaged in custody, domestic violence, and child protective matters for the city’s most vulnerable.
“Judge Aldrich is joining our organization at a time when our needs, and more importantly the needs of the families we serve, are especially acute,” says Laurie McPherson, President of CLC’s Board of Directors. “Her management and fundraising acumen, combined with her deep knowledge of family law, make Judge Aldrich the ideal leader to continue our momentum, offer fresh ideas, and create a solid foundation for CLC’s future.”
“It is such an honor and privilege to be named Executive Director of the Children's Law Center and to join CLC’s engaged and passionate team in making a difference in children’s lives,” says Aldrich. “This is a critical time for CLC’s work and mission— protecting and ensuring justice for children across New York City.”
Prior to her appointment in the Bronx Family Court, Aldrich was Managing Director and General Counsel for the Center for Court Innovation in New York City (today known as the Center for Justice Innovation). A skilled strategist and manager, Aldrich led the organization through a profound growth period, overseeing the agency’s operations, human resources, and development departments.
During her 20-year tenure at the Center, the staff expanded from 70 to 700 and the annual budget grew from eight million to 80 million dollars. As General Counsel, she provided legal support on supervised release, community programs, city, state, and federal contracts, and employment and real estate compliance.
Aldrich also supervised the Center's programmatic areas of operation in family law, international rule of law, civil access to justice, domestic violence prevention, and human trafficking programs. In that capacity, she helped launch numerous family court programs, including the Parent Support Program, Strong Starts Initiative, and the Integrated Domestic Violence Courts.
Before joining the Center, Aldrich was the director of legal services at Safe Horizon, where she represented domestic violence victims in family and supreme courts and federal immigration proceedings.
In 1996, she and two colleagues founded LIFT, Legal Information for Families Today, which has assisted over a hundred thousand families since its founding by providing legal information to pro se litigants.
Aldrich has published numerous scholarly articles on domestic violence law and policy.
Aldrich holds a B.A. from Harvard University and a J.D. from New York University School of Law. She is a native New Yorker who lives in Brooklyn with her husband and two children.
