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Supreme Judicial Court
Appoints One New Member and Reappoints
Three Members to Mental Health Legal Advisors Committee
Boston, MA — The
Justices of the Supreme Judicial Court recently appointed
Superior Court Judge Thomas A. Connors to the Mental
Health Legal Advisors Committee and reappointed Cambridge
District Court Judge Jonathan Brant, Judge Edward M.
Ginsburg (Ret.), and Worcester Probate and Family Court
Judge Susan D. Ricci to the Committee. All of the appointments
are for four-year terms ending May 1, 2009.
Appointed
a Justice of the Superior Court in 2004, Judge Connors
was first appointed to the bench of the District Court
Department in 1995. Prior to that, he was in private
practice for eighteen years. In 1993, he was awarded
the Boston Bar Association's Thurgood Marshall Award.
Judge Connors graduated with a J.D. degree from Boston
College Law School and received a B.A. degree, magna
cum laude, from Boston College.
Judge
Brant was appointed to the bench in 1992. Prior to his
appointment, he engaged in private practice for nine
years, and, from 1980 to 1983, he was a professor at
the New England School of Law. Before that, he served
as Assistant Attorney General for five years. Judge Brant
has written Law and Mental Health Professionals as
well as numerous law review articles. He received a J.D.
degree from Harvard Law School and a B.A. degree, magna
cum laude, from Brandeis University.
Appointed
to the Probate and Family Court in 1977, Judge Ginsburg
retired in 2002 after twenty-five years of dedicated
service. Prior to his appointment to the bench, he was
in private practice for eighteen years. Judge Ginsburg,
who graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College and
received his J.D. degree from Harvard Law School, teaches
at Suffolk University Law School and Boston College Law
School. He is a founder of Senior Partners for Justice,
an organization which provides free legal services to
indigent litigants in family law matters. Judge Ginsburg
is a recipient of the 2005 John Adams Pro Bono Publico
Award presented by the Supreme Judicial Court Standing
Committee on Pro Bono Legal Services.
Before
her appointment as a Circuit Justice of the Probate and
Family Court in 1993, Judge Ricci was a partner in the
Worcester law firm of Norman & Ricci for nine years.
In 2001, she was appointed as Associate Justice of the
Worcester Division of the Probate and Family Court. She
graduated from Suffolk University Law School and the
University of Florida.
Established
by statute in 1973, the Mental Health Legal Advisors
Committee is composed of fourteen judges and lawyers
appointed by the Supreme Judicial Court for four-year
terms on a staggered basis. The Committee secures and
protects the legal rights of persons involved in mental
health and retardation programs in the Commonwealth.
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