The longtime clerk magistrate of Edgartown District Court was confirmed as an associate district court judge last week, marking the first time a Martha’s Vineyard resident has been promoted to the bench, officials said. 

Liza Williamson, who has worked as the clerk magistrate at the Main street courthouse for 21 years, gained unanimous support from the governor’s council during her confirmation hearing on June 4. She starts in the new role on June 30. 

“This is a historic event.... She’s the first nominee in 250 years for Martha’s Vineyard,” said Joseph Ferreira, one of the council members during the hearing. “So, congratulations.... I’m sure you’re going to be a great judge.” 

Ms. Williamson, an attorney who moved to the Vineyard in eighth grade and attended the regional high school, has been a lawyer since 1997, and previously worked as an assistant district attorney on the mainland before opening her own practice in Edgartown. 

She is known in the Island’s courthouse for her evenhandedness and kindness, giving everyone from the plutocrats to the paupers a fair shake. 

“I’ve represented hundreds if not thousands of people in show cause hearings before her and it’s the full socioeconomic spectrum of humanity,” Vineyard defense attorney Robert Moriarty told the council. “I’ve represented them all before her, and she has treated each and every one of them the same, with dignity, respect and fairness.”

In her role as clerk magistrate, Ms. Williamson has presided over small claims trials, search warrants, bail hearings and clerk magistrate hearings. During her tenure, she also served a short stint as both the Vineyard and Nantucket magistrates. 

During her time as an assistant district attorney in Suffolk County, Ms. Williamson worked as a school violence prosecutor, giving her a front row seat to the challenges that can land students in a courtroom. 

“I learned that lack of education and opportunity collide with our criminal justice system daily,” she said. “This reinforced to me, as my mother always had, that everyone should have the chance to rise above their circumstances.” 

She brought a similar empathy here on the Vineyard, seeking to get to the root of the issue, rather than focus on the criminality. She gave examples to the governor’s council of instances where diversion proved better than strict punishment. 

One man who entered the court system several times had substance use disordered, she said. He had a number of hearings, but was never violent, so Ms. Williamson decided to give him a break.

Then, some time later, she came across the man at Stop & Shop and he pulled out his two-year sobriety chip. 

“He said, it’s because of those breaks. Thank you for always believing,” Ms. Williamson recalled.

During the 50-minute hearing, members of the governor’s council peppered Ms. Williamson with questions about how she would handle defendants who represent themselves without an attorney, and how much weight she would give to defendants with a prior criminal history. The council also broached the current issues with court-appointed attorneys, which, across the state, have stopped taking on new clients to highlight disparities in pay.

John Julian, a district court judge in Barnstable who worked with Ms. Williamson when she was an intern at the Suffolk County district attorney’s office, said she had the right mindset to be a judge. 

“We help those who don’t know where to turn, whether they be defendants, victims, pro se litigants, attorneys or just someone who has a question that they need to be heard and be treated fairly with respect and dignity,” he said. “Have no doubt that she will be that on the bench.” 

New associate judges typically take the bench in several different courts, rotating around as part of a circuit. Ms. Williamson, a West Tisbury resident and mother of two, was one of five attorneys nominated by Gov. Maura Healey last month.