Associate Justice James R. Milkey
Born in Hartford, Connecticut, on December 17, 1956, James R. Milkey earned an A.B., magna cum laude, from Harvard College in 1978 and a J.D., magna cum laude, from Harvard Law School in 1983; he also received a master's degree in city planning from M.I.T. that year. He served as a law clerk to Justice Benjamin Kaplan of this court during the 1983-1984 term. He then joined the Environmental Protection Division of the Massachusetts Attorney General's Office; he became Chief of the Division in 1996. He served as counsel of record in Massachusetts v. EPA, which addressed the EPA's responsibility to regulate greenhouse gas emissions under the federal Clean Air Act, and successfully argued that case before the United States Supreme Court. He has lectured frequently on climate change, enforcement, brownfields, and regulatory takings issues; from 2003 to 2005 he was co-chair of the Environmental Law Section of the Boston Bar Association. He was a visiting associate professor at Pace Law School in New York, and co-taught a course at Harvard Law School. Among the awards received by Justice Milkey are: named one of ten "Lawyers of the Year" in 2007 by Lawyers USA; co-recipient of the Eighth Annual American Bar Association Award for Distinguished Achievement in Environmental Law and Policy; Public Servant of the Year (2006), awarded by the Environmental League of Massachusetts; recipient of the Massachusetts Association of Conservation Commissions' 2008 award for outstanding public service; and in 2009, a lifetime achievement award from the Environmental Protection Agency, New England. He was nominated to the Appeals Court by Governor Deval Patrick, and joined the court on April 8, 2009. Justice Milkey and his wife have two sons.