Boston, MA --- The Justices of the Supreme Judicial Court recently appointed three new members and reappointed four members to the Committee for Public Counsel Services for three-year terms, in accordance with G.L. c. 211D, §1. The terms expire on March 1, 2008.

          The new appointees are Boston College Law School Associate Professor Frank R. Herrmann of Newton, Boston University School of Law Associate Clinical Professor Eva S. Nilsen of Cambridge, and Attorney Timothy G. Watkins of Jamaica Plain.

          The Justices also reappointed Attorneys Ann G. Crowley of Beverly, a sole practitioner in Salem; Derege Demissie of Jamaica Plain, a partner in the Cambridge law firm of Doherty & Demissie; Judith Lindahl of Cambridge, a sole practitioner in Boston; and Robert Quinn of Milton, a partner in the Boston law firm of Quinn & Morris.

           Professor Herrmann has taught at Boston College School Law School since 1991. Prior to that, he served as Rector of the Jesuit Community at LeMoyne College and taught law classes for three years. From 1977 to 1988, he was a public defender with the Committee for Public Counsel Services. Professor Herrmann holds a J.D. degree from Boston College Law School, an M. Div. degree from Woodstock College of Theology, and an A.B. degree from Fordham University.

           Professor Nilsen has been an Associate Clinical Professor at Boston University School of Law since 1979, teaching and supervising students in the Criminal Justice Clinic. She also teaches and writes about criminal law. She was a Visiting Professor at the University of the Punjab Law College in Lahore, Pakistan and at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa. For more than ten years, she has served on the board of Suffolk Lawyers for Justice and its predecessor organization. She is also a member of the Massachusetts Bar Association and the Clinical Law Educators Association. Professor Nilsen received a J.D. degree from the University of Virginia Law School, an LLM degree from Georgetown University Law Center, where she was an E. Barrett Prettyman Fellow, and a B.A. degree, magna cum laude, from Yale College.

           Mr. Watkins has served as an Assistant Federal Defender in the Federal Defender Office of the District of Massachusetts since 1999. Previously, he was a staff attorney for the Public Counsel Division of the Committee for Public Counsel Services for five years. He is a member of the Executive Board of Directors of Massachusetts Citizens Against the Death Penalty, the Massachusetts Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. Mr. Watkins holds a J.D. degree from Northeastern University School of Law and a Bachelor of Music degree from Berklee College of Music.

           The Committee for Public Counsel Services is composed of fifteen members appointed by the Supreme Judicial Court for three-year terms. The Committee plans, coordinates, and oversees the delivery of legal services to indigent clients in criminal and certain non-criminal matters.