Associate Justice Janis M. Berry
Associate Justice Janis M. Berry worked in private practice for almost twenty years as a trial lawyer, including as a partner at the Boston law firms of Ropes & Gray, and Rubin and Rudman LLC, handling a wide variety of complex litigation matters. She also served for six years as a Federal prosecutor and was Chief of the U.S. Justice Department's New England Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force. She tried many civil and criminal cases in the Commonwealth's Trial Courts and in the United States District Court, and she briefed and argued appeals in the Supreme Judicial Court, the Massachusetts Appeals Court, and the First Circuit Court of Appeals. By appointment of the Supreme Judicial Court, Justice Berry served on the Board of Bar Overseers and the Committee for Public Counsel Services. She was appointed chairperson of a U.S. Magistrate Selection Panel, was counselor to the Frank J. Murray Federal Inn of Court, and served as a member of the Governor's Judicial Nominating Council. As an Adjunct Professor, Justice Berry has taught advocacy courses at Boston University School of Law, Northeastern University School of Law, and Suffolk University Law School. She also has been an instructor at Harvard Law School and the U.S. Department of Justice Advocacy Institute, and was on the board of advisors for the National Trial Competition. Justice Berry has been a presenter for the Massachusetts and Boston Bar Associations and MCLE. She has published several articles, coauthored a treatise on criminal law, and served on the editorial board of the Massachusetts Law Review. She received her B.A. from Boston University magna cum laude and Phi Betta Kappa, and graduated from Boston University School of Law cum laude. Justice Berry served as law clerk to Supreme Judicial Court Chief Justice Edward F. Hennessey. Appointed to the Appeals Court by Governor Paul Cellucci, she was sworn in on February 28, 2001.