Michael Kavanagh was elected to the Supreme Court in 1999 and sits in Kingston, New York. Prior to his election he had served as Ulster County District Attorney for 21 years.

            Born in Lawrence, Long Island, he received his undergraduate degree from Merrimack College in 1965 and a J.D. degree in 1968 from Villanova University School of Law. After being Honorably Discharged from the U.S. Army in 1970, he served for four years as an assistant to the late Frank Hogan in the New York County District Attorney's Office

            Judge Kavanagh resides with his wife, Marilyn, in Woodstock, N.Y. He has two children, a son, Michael, who serves as an Assistant District Attorney in Dutchess County, and a daughter, Megan, who is a program coordinator for America's Promise, a not-for-profit foundation in Washington, D,C.