About Judge Fairlie
Pleasant Valley Judge
In 2021, Judge Fairlie was elected by the voters of Pleasant Valley to a 4-year term of office, from January 1, 2022, through December 31, 2025.
Throughout his term, he has presided over a busy court calendar, which has included bench and jury trials of all types that are found in the Town Courts. According to the latest New York State Comptroller data, out of approximately 1,190 Town and Village Courts throughout New York State, the Town of Pleasant Valley Court ranks #68 in revenue volume. In Dutchess County, the Town of Pleasant Valley Court ranks #4 out of 26.
Additionally, Judge Fairlie has regularly answered the call to cover after-hours/overnight criminal arraignments for the Town of Pleasant Valley, as well as criminal arraignments for adjoining Towns and County-wide felony arraignments when law enforcement agencies could not reach other judges in the originating jurisdictions.
Notably, in his first term, the New York State Magistrates Association (“NYSMA”) invited Judge Fairlie to teach a course on judicial decision writing at the NYSMA’s annual conference for 2025 in Niagara Falls. Judge Fairlie has submitted multiple Town Court decisions that have been accepted for official publication by the New York State Law Reporting Bureau.
In 2020, Darren Fairlie was recognized by the judiciary and hired to work in the New York State Unified Court System.
Judge Timothy P. McElduff, Jr., selected then-attorney Darren Fairlie to become his Principal Court Attorney (also referred to as Principal Law Clerk) for the Orange County Surrogate’s Court. In 2022, Judge McElduff’s appointment expanded to Acting Supreme Court Justice and, later, Acting Family Court Judge. In that capacity, Principal Court Attorney Fairlie writes decisions and orders for Supreme Court, Surrogate’s Court and Family Court, conducts court conferences and settlement conferences, performs the Court’s legal research and acts as confidential legal advisor to Judge McElduff. Several of the decisions that Principal Court Attorney Fairlie has written for the Supreme Court, Surrogate’s Court and Family Court have been selected for official publication in the New York State Law Reporting Bureau’s Official Reports. You may click the above hyperlinks to search and read court decisions.
Principal Court Attorney
Local Litigation Attorney
From the beginning of his legal career in 2006, Darren was a Dutchess County litigation attorney.
Darren resolved complex civil lawsuits through trials, written motions, appeals and negotiated settlements. He handled a diverse load of cases, which concerned contract disputes, real property, trusts and estates, corporate disputes/dissolutions, landlord/tenant, municipal/zoning, construction, anti-competitive practices, judgment enforcement and collection, employment law/discrimination, engineering/architectural/legal malpractice, insurance law and more. Although Darren’s practice was based in Dutchess County, the size and variety of his cases took him to trial courts and appellate courts from Albany to New York City and Long Island. These courts included Supreme Courts and Surrogate’s Courts in several counties throughout New York State, United States District Courts and Bankruptcy Courts, City Courts and many Town and Village Courts throughout the Hudson Valley.
Starting a Local Business
Darren and Alissa Fairlie started their own family business, Creature Comforts Animal Hospital, in Poughkeepsie.
Darren’s wife, Dr. Alissa Fairlie, also began her career in the Hudson Valley in 2006. In 2012, they opened Creature Comforts Animal Hospital in the City of Poughkeepsie. After renovating a previously vacant building and starting from zero, Creature Comforts now employs a staff of 20 people. Creature Comforts became, and remains, the only animal hospital in the City or Town of Poughkeepsie to be accredited by the American Animal Hospital Association (AAHA). In addition to providing superior care for dogs and cats, Creature Comforts is the Mid-Hudson Valley’s premier facility for exotic animal medicine and surgery.
In 2025, Creature Comforts Animal Hospital was named one of “America’s Best Animal Hospitals” by Newsweek Magazine, who ranked Creature Comforts Animal Hospital in the top 500 animal hospitals out of over 15,000 across the country.
Raising a Family in Pleasant Valley, New York
After the birth of their son, Miles, in 2016, Darren and Alissa Fairlie moved to Pleasant Valley to raise him where their lives had become centered—in Dutchess County, where their careers, animal hospital and Darren’s parents had all come to reside. Darren later served on the Board of Trustees of the Pleasant Valley Free Library.
Darren was raised just outside of Margaretville, New York, near Belleayre Mountain. He graduated from Siena College and Albany Law School of Union University. He first began to live in Dutchess County in 2001, when his parents moved their mom-and-pop furniture store, Country Comfort Furniture, to Rhinebeck. If you have been living locally, there’s actually a chance that Darren delivered furniture to your house between 2001 and 2015.
