Associate Justice Barbara A. Lenk
Barbara A. Lenk was born in Queens, New York. She received a B.A., magna cum laude, from Fordham University in 1972; a Ph.D. in political philosophy from Yale University in 1978; and a J.D. from Harvard Law School in 1979. She began her legal career in 1979 at the Boston law firm of Brown, Rudnick, Freed & Gesmer (now known as Brown Rudnick Berlack Israels), and became a partner there. Her practice focused on civil litigation, with a specialty in First Amendment matters. In 1993 Governor William Weld appointed her to the Superior Court, where she served until 1995, when Governor Weld appointed her to the Appeals Court; she took her seat as an appellate justice on June 20, 1995. Justice Lenk has been involved in a number of bar-related and other civic activities. She has served on the Board of Directors of the Volunteer Lawyers Project of the Boston Bar Association; as Chair of the Board of Editors of the Boston Bar Journal; and as a member of the Judicial Administration Council of the Massachusetts Bar Association. She currently serves as a Trustee of Western New England College and as a member of the Boston Inn of Court. In June, 2011, Governor Deval Patrick appointed her to serve as Associate Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court.