Citizens elected Margaret Keliher to a four-year term as County Judge on November 5, 2002. She is the first female in the 157-year history of Dallas County to serve in that role. Prior to her election, Judge Keliher was appointed to an unexpired term as Dallas County Judge on August 2, 2002 by the Dallas County Commissioners Court.

Judge Keliher came to the Chief Executive Officer's role on the Court after serving as Judge of the 44th District Court of Dallas County since 1999. In that position she received accolades for her organizational skills and for innovative ideas in handling her docket and communicating with persons with business in her court. The 2001 Dallas Bar Association Judicial Evaluation ranked her as one of the hardest-working Civil District Court Judges, ranked among the top in judicial temperament and demeanor.

She came to the bench from a local law firm where she handled commercial and business litigation. Before joining the firm, Judge Keliher served as a member of the Dallas County District Attorney's office as a felony prosecutor. Prior to her law career, she was a Certified Public Accountant with a big six accounting firm

Coming from a law background, Judge Keliher's father and grandfather were attorneys and her uncle a judge on the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. She initially chose the business and accounting fields, graduating from the University of Virginia with a degree in accounting. When she turned to law, she graduated cum laude from Southern Methodist University School of Law.

Judge Keliher has long been active in Dallas' community activities, serving on the Dallas County Mental Health Mental Retardation Board, as a Board Member of the Dallas Children's Theater Guild and the Volunteer Center of Dallas, and as an active member of Attorneys Serving the Community. She has also served as a member of the Committee for a Qualified Judiciary, chaired the Visiting Judges sub-committee of the Dallas Bar Association, and serves on the Executive Board for SMU's Dedman School of Law.

An active involved mother of three, she is married to Lester Keliher and is mother to Margaret, Joseph, and Alex.