Supreme Judicial Court Chief Justice Margaret H. Marshall Appoints Three New Members
and Reappoints One Member to Jury Management Advisory Committee

Superior Court Judge Robert C. Rufo Named as Chair

            Supreme Judicial Court Chief Justice Margaret H. Marshall recently appointed Superior Court Judge S. Jane Haggerty, Dedham District Court Judge Michael J. Pomarole and Superior Court Judge Robert C. Rufo to the Jury Management Advisory Board. Judge Rufo was named as Chair and fills the position previously held by Superior Court Judge Peter M. Lauriat, who had been serving as Acting Chair. Judge Rufo’s term expires on May 1, 2010. The other two terms end on May 1, 2011.

            Chief Justice Marshall reappointed First Justice Kathleen E. Coffey of the West Roxbury Division of the Boston Municipal Court Department, whose new term will expire on May 1, 2010.

            The Jury Management Advisory Committee consists of six justices appointed by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court, according to G.L.c. 234A, §6, and is charged with assisting the Chief Justice in supervising the Office of Jury Commissioner.

            Before her appointment to the bench in 1999, Judge Haggerty served as an Assistant District Attorney in Norfolk County, a Special Attorney in the Organized Crime Strike Force of the U. S. Justice Department, an Assistant Attorney General and Chief of the Criminal Division in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and as Assistant District Attorney and Chief of the Appellate Division in Essex County. Judge Haggerty holds a J.D. degree from Suffolk University Law School, an M.S. degree from Indiana University, and a B.A. degree from Boston College.

            Judge Pomarole was appointed to the bench in 2003. Previously, he served as a Legal Aide to Governor Paul A. Celluci and as Assistant District Attorney in Suffolk County. He also served as Chair of the Massachusetts Parole Board. Judge Pomarole holds a B.A. degree from Northeastern University and a J.D. degree from Suffolk University Law School.

            Judge Rufo, who was appointed to the bench in 1996, has also served as a District Court Judge. He was Sheriff of Suffolk County from 1987 to 1996. He taught on the adjunct faculty of Suffolk University Law School and the New England School of Law. Judge Rufo received a J.D. degree from Suffolk University, an M.P.A. degree from Harvard University, and a B.S. degree from Boston College.

            Appointed to the bench in 1993, Judge Coffey chairs the Mental Health Committee in the Boston Municipal Court Department. In 1998, she created the Reinventing Justice Committee for the West Roxbury Court, a community advisory task force. Judge Coffey recently served on the Supreme Judicial Court Ad Hoc Advisory Committee to Study Canon 3B(9) of the Code of Judicial Conduct. She received her J. D. degree from Boston College Law School, and her B.A. degree, magna cum laude, from Newton College of the Sacred Heart.