Boston, MA — The Justices of the Supreme Judicial Court recently appointed Judge Gilbert J. Nadeau, Jr., First Justice of the Fall River District Court, to the Committee on Professional Responsibility for Clerks of the Courts to a term ending on April 23, 2010, and reappointed Middlesex County Juvenile Court Judge Jay D. Blitzman to the Committee on Judicial Ethics for a five-year term, expiring on August 31, 2010.

          Established by SJC Rule 3:13, the five-member Committee on Professional Responsibility for Clerks of the Courts investigates complaints against elected and appointed clerks relative to alleged violations of the Code of Professional Responsibility for Clerks of the Courts.

          Pursuant to SJC Rule 3:11, the five-member Committee on Judicial Ethics provides advisory opinions and informal advice to judges and individuals nominated to be judges who seek advice “with respect to the interpretation of rules of court relating to the ethical and professional conduct of judges,” according to the Code of Judicial Conduct, SJC Rule 3:09.

          Judge Nadeau was appointed to the bench in 1998. Prior to his appointment, he was an Assistant District Attorney in Bristol County from 1979 to 1991, and First Assistant District Attorney from 1991 to 1998. Previously, he served as Assistant Corporation Counsel in Fall River and was a sole practitioner there. Judge Nadeau received his J.D. degree, cum laude, from Boston College Law School and his B.A degree, with honors, from the University of Notre Dame.

          Judge Blitzman was appointed to the Middlesex County Juvenile Court in 1996. He worked for the Committee for Public Counsel Services from 1975 to 1992, and from 1992 to 1996, served as Director of the CPCS Youth Advocacy Project, Roxbury Defenders. He has participated in clinical programs at Boston College Law School and Harvard Law School, and has taught at the Massachusetts School of Law. Judge Blitzman is a member of the Supreme Judicial Court Committee on the Massachusetts Rules of Criminal Procedure and was a member of the Supreme Judicial Court Study Committee on the Code of Judicial Conduct. An alumnus of Boston College Law School, he graduated with a B.A. degree, summa cum laude, from Union College and also attended the London School of Economics.