Margaret Dee McGarity was a United States Bankruptcy Judge for the Eastern District of Wisconsin from 1987 until 2016. From 2003 until 2010, she served as chief bankruptcy judge. Judge McGarity was in private practice before her appointment, concentrating primarily in the areas of bankruptcy, family law and marital property, and she served on the panel of chapter 7 trustees. Judge McGarity is a frequent lecturer on various marital property and bankruptcy related topics, especially on the interrelationships between family law and the Bankruptcy Code, having participated in seminars sponsored by the Federal Judicial Center, National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges, American Bankruptcy Institute, State Bar of Wisconsin, Supreme Court of Wisconsin (Judicial Education Division), National Child Support Enforcement Association, National Judicial College, National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys, and various bar associations, among others. She is a co-author of Christiansen, Haberman, Haydon, Kinnamon, McGarity & Wilcox, Marital Property Law in Wisconsin (State Bar of Wis.), a three-volume treatise on Wisconsin’s community property laws last updated in 2010. She is also the author of articles published by the ABA Journal, NAB Talk, NACTT Quarterly and other publications dealing with the practical aspects of bankruptcy practice. She is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Emory University, 1969, and a 1974 graduate of the University of Wisconsin Law School. She is a member of the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges, American Bankruptcy Institute, National Association of Women Judges, the American College of Bankruptcy and the Thomas E. Fairchild American Inn of Court.