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.