Associate Justice Charlotte Anne Perretta (Ret.)
Charlotte Anne Perretta was the senior associate justice of the Appeals Court from 2003 to 2009. Born in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1942, she received an A.B. from The College of St. Elizabeth in Morristown, New Jersey, in 1964, and a J.D. from Suffolk University Law School in 1967. After graduation from law school she joined the Massachusetts Defenders Committee (the forerunner of the Committee for Public Counsel Services), working on post-conviction matters. In 1969 she joined the Boston law firm of Crane, Inker & Oteri, where she specialized in appellate work and argued numerous cases in the Supreme Judicial Court and the newly formed Appeals Court. In 1975 she entered into practice at Keating, Perretta & Pierce in Boston, focusing on trial and appellate litigation. She later practiced with Attorney Ronald Wysocki in Boston. In 1978 she was appointed to the Appeals Court by Governor Michael Dukakis. She was sworn in on December 21, 1978, becoming the first female justice of that court. Justice Perretta was a member of the adjunct faculty at New England School of Law for many years, teaching Trial Practice. She retired from the Appeals Court on October 2, 2009.