Mary Madden practiced exclusively family law for close to 20 years before joining the family court bench in 2008. She has served on both Minnesota's Second and Fourth Judicial District's family courts. She is the lead Judicial Officer on the Fourth Judicial District's Mentor Court and Justice For Families grants funded by the Department of Justice - Office of Violence Against Women. She is a trainer with the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges and a former president of the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts - Minnesota Chapter Board of Directors. She has served as a member of the Minnesota State Early Case Management/Early Neutral Evaluation Steering Committee and the Custody Dialogue Group whose work preceded the passage of the new custody and parenting time "best interest" factors in Minn. Stat. § 518.17 in 2015.