At 26 years old, Ariel Lasher is believed to be the youngest judge in New York State.

“Empowering is a good word for it,” said Lasher. “It is also validating because it feels like I’m doing something right.”

Lasher is like a lot of 26-year-olds; living in her parent’s house, working remotely from the kitchen table, but how she ended up here is anything but typical.

“Everything kind of fell into place, it felt like it was meant to happen,” said Lasher.

A 2019 Albany Law School graduate with a master’s in bioethics, Lasher has lived in Providence most her life. The small town in Saratoga County has a population of around 2,000.

It was a chance encounter in town that may have jump-started her career.

“The former Judge Lahoff, who has [since] retired, had gone off the road and needed help, and my dad was the one to help him out, and at the time, Judge Lahoff was looking for a court clerk and my dad was like ‘my daughter just graduated law school!’” Lasher said.

“And I wouldn’t have known about it if my dad hadn’t helped him out of the ditch!”

After serving just two years as court clerk, she was appointed a judge. Her motivation for getting into the field began with family, too.

“Trauma often looks a lot like criminal conduct, and my mother got herself into some trouble, some legal trouble, and I was 17 and I was the one driving her to court,” said Lasher.

Lasher remembers worrying she’d lose her mom forever if she was sentenced to prison. Instead, the judge in her case recommended she attend a drug rehabilitation program.

“Seeing the legal system work in my mother’s case made me want to become a part of it and become a part of something that helped,” said Lasher.

It was an experience that shaped the type of judge she strives to be.

“You can’t pick or choose a side,” said Lasher. “If they had done that with my mother and not come to an agreement, it would have been to her detriment.”

Ariel’s mother is now disabled, so she’s her primary caregiver, managing responsibilities around the house and her mom’s medical care.

“It’s very difficult to advocate for yourself if you don’t know that what’s being done to you is unethical,” said Lasher.

She’s considering a future in health law and will continue to draw on her personal and professional experiences as a moral compass in her career.

“I don’t know for sure what the future holds, but I’m hopeful that as long as the slope keeps going up, I’ll be good,” said Lasher.