Chief Justice Phillip Rapoza
Phillip Rapoza is Chief Justice of the Massachusetts Appeals Court. He received a B.A. magna cum laude from Yale College and a J.D. from Cornell Law School. Before entering private practice, he served as an assistant district attorney in both Suffolk and Bristol Counties. In 1992, he was appointed an Associate Justice of the Fall River District Court and was subsequently appointed an Associate Justice of the Massachusetts Superior Court. In 1998, he was appointed to the Appeals Court and in 2006, he was named Chief Justice. Chief Justice Rapoza is active in various international justice initiatives. Starting in 1997, he chaired a series of bilateral programs with the Portuguese judiciary and in 2002, the President of Portugal awarded him the rank of Commander in the Order of Prince Henry the Navigator for "promoting closer relations between the judicial systems of our two countries." From 2003 to 2005, Chief Justice Rapoza took an unpaid leave of absence to work for the United Nations, serving as chief international judge of the Special Panels for Serious Crimes in East Timor. The Special Panels was a war crimes tribunal established by the UN to prosecute crimes against humanity and other serious violations of human rights committed in that country during its struggle for independence. Chief Justice Rapoza later headed a UN Criminal Justice Advisory Team in Haiti and has served as an instructor and technical expert relative to the Cambodian war crimes tribunal dealing with the Khmer Rouge. In 2007, he received the Brazilian Medal of International Merit in recognition of his "contribution to strengthening the ties of friendship and cooperation between the judicial systems on the American continent." He currently serves as Vice-President of the International Penal and Penitentiary Foundation and is on the Board of International Consultants for the Permanent Latin America Committee for the Review and Implementation of the Minimum Rules of the UN for the Treatment of Prisoners. Chief Justice Rapoza is a member of the Executive Committee of the Council of Chief Judges of State Courts of Appeal and is a Life Fellow of the Massachusetts Bar Foundation.