Martha Coakley is the Middlesex District Attorney. Coakley first joined the Middlesex District Attorney's office in 1986 as an Assistant District Attorney in the Lowell District Court Office. In 1991 she was appointed chief of the Child Abuse Protection Unit, and during her tenure as chief, prosecuted several hundred cases including the Commonwealth vs. Louise Woodward. In 1997 Coakley began her campaign for Middlesex District Attorney, and since her induction in 1999, has been honored by Mothers Against Drunk Driving, the Massachusetts School of Law, the Frank J. Murray Inn of Court, the Women's Bar Association of Massachusetts, the YWCA of Boston, and the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce. She has served as president of the Massachusetts District Attorney's Association, president of the Women's Bar Association of Massachusetts, and member of the Board of Directors of the Dana Farber Cancer Institute. Coakley is a graduate of Williams College and the Boston University School of Law.