Lori B. Galbraith

The Honorable Lori B. Galbraith

Board Director, National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges

Judge Lori B. Galbraith was appointed to the Chesapeake, Virginia Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court bench on July 1, 2019.  In addition to her dockets, Judge Galbraith is serving on the Board of the Virginia Association of District Court Judges and is the chair of the Reception Committee and serves on the Judges’ Benchbook Committee.   She also is a member of the Virginia Council of Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court Judges.  She was appointed by the Virginia Supreme Court to serve on the Advisory Committee on Rules of Court. She was appointed by the Office of the Executive Secretary of the Virginia Supreme Court to serve on the Local School Superintendent/Judicial Liaison Committee,  the Advisory Workgroup to Develop Standards of Qualification and Performance for Court-Appointed Counsel for Parents and Guardians Ad Litem in Child Dependency Cases and to be a Mentor to newly elected judges Locally, she chairs the Chesapeake Best Practices Court Team which seeks to improve Child Dependency dockets.  Judge Galbraith also serves as a Board Member in the I’Anson-Hoffman Inn of Court.

Prior to her appointment, Judge Galbraith served as Chief Deputy Commonwealth’s Attorney for the City of Chesapeake, Virginia, a position she held since 2006.  She joined the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office for the City of Chesapeake in 1994 after serving as an Assistant Public Defender for four years.   During her tenure as a prosecutor, she worked with local police to institute a Domestic Violence Lethality Assessment Protocol and trained judges and prosecutors statewide on the protocol. She worked with the courts and local agencies to start a Behavioral Health Docket. She also worked collaboratively as a member of the regional Human Trafficking Task Force, the Virginia Senate Criminal Diversion Workgroup, the 2017 Governor- Elect’s Policy Council on Mental Health. She also participated in the local Sexual Assault Response Team, Domestic Violence Task Force and the Mental Health / Criminal Justice Workgroup.

Judge Galbraith graduated from the Pennsylvania State University with a B.A. in Sociology and received her J.D. from Temple University.  Judge Galbraith and her husband, Scott, have one daughter and enjoy spending time traveling, going to baseball games and attending concerts.