Associate Justice

On February 21, 2008 Katherine A. Maraman took the oath of office to become an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court. She was appointed to the position by Governor Felix P. Camacho and confirmed by the Twenty Ninth Guam Legislature.

Associate Justice Maraman was born in Los Alamos, New Mexico to the late William J. and Katherine Thorpe Maraman. Education was important to her parents and they encouraged her to attend college and law school. The University of New Mexico conferred on her a Juris Doctorate. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, from The Colorado College.

Justice Maraman was always fascinated by the legislative process and so began her legal career at the New Mexico Legislative Council Service. As a law student and law school graduate she worked as a draftsman until her admission to practice. The Council staff included several extraordinary individuals who became her mentors and also supported her decision in 1977 to join a Guam law firm which afforded her an opportunity that changed the course of her life.

Upon arriving on Guam she assumed the post of Assistant Legislative Counsel to the Fourteenth, Fifteenth and Sixteenth Guam Legislatures and eventually assumed the position of minority counsel full-time until December 1987. While serving in the Legislature she assisted with the Association of Pacific Island Legislatures and her experience in the Pacific grew.

The entrepreneurial spirit struck in 1985 and Maraman opened her own law office at Julale Center. Other clients engaged her for legal work in family, probate, corporate, tax and other legal matters. In 1988 she started winding up her cases and eventually closed the office in order to join the government service.

Then-Governor Joseph F. Ada and Lieutenant Governor Frank F. Blas retained Justice Maraman as their legal advisor in January 1988. Her work encompassed many areas in the operation of the government. Later in his second term in 1994, Governor Ada appointed her to serve as a judge of the Superior Court.

Justice Maraman was assigned primarily to the Family Court docket but was instrumental in the start-up of the mental health docket which comprises criminal cases. These cases involved instances where a defendant places his mental state at issue. She was also assigned felony and misdemeanor criminal cases and all other types of cases that come before the Superior Court.

Justice Maraman collaborated with several executive branch agencies and the judiciary to improve how family cases were adjudicated. She successfully built consensus to create a therapeutic court where the most vulnerable members of the Guam community could be properly served.

Justice Maraman was appointed by the President of Palau to serve as a Part-time Justice on the Palau Supreme Court. Maraman also serves as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Guam.

She enjoys working with various community organizations and is a member of several legal associations and has served as a board member or officer in some groups.

Justice Maraman’s immediate family includes her sister, Linda, brother-in-law, Kip, her niece Rachel and her husband Dan, and her nephew, Andy. She is blessed with brothers and sisters at Faith Presbyterian Christian Reformed Church. Her life has been enriched by special friends and adopted families.