JUDGE MARIS serves the 14th Judicial District of Durham County as one of seven District Court Judges. She presides in both criminal and civil courts, including traffic and domestic violence court. She is a regularly assigned Juvenile Court Judge (as of 2023) and presided in Family Court every other week for the first five years of her judicial career where she worked to assist Durham's families in disputes over custody, child support, alimony, property distribution and divorce.
In addition to her work in the courtroom, Judge Maris deeply values spending time in the community. She is pictured below with staff at The Durham County Teen Court & Restitution Program, a non-profit organization that Maris served as a judge, board member & mentor with for a decade. She is also a former board member of Rebound-Alternatives for Youth, an organization working to stem the tide of students out of school on suspension. She is a current member of the Inclusion Committee at Camp Shelanu in Durham whose mission promotes accommodation, appreciation and welcoming of all children in the camp experience, including those with special needs.
In January 2018, within her first 12 months in office, Judge Maris co-founded a first-of-its-kind court referral program in North Carolina designed to help Durham and other residents obtain a fresh start and new opportunities in employment, housing and education. This program, called "The Durham Expunction and Restoration (DEAR) Program," launched officially in 2019.
Judge Maris serves as a Co-chair of the DEAR Advisory Board and is committed to ensuring her work as a judge extends beyond individual cases and incremental justice to systemic progress with programs like DEAR that can be a part of the solution in expanding access, equity and second chances in our court system.
