Justice Robert J. Cordy

Robert J. Cordy, Associate Justice, was born in Manchester , Connecticut , on May 18, 1949. He received his A.B. degree cum laude from Dartmouth College in 1971, and his J.D. degree from Harvard Law School in 1974. Justice Cordy began his legal career in 1974 as a defense attorney for the Massachusetts Defenders Committee. From 1978 to 1979, he worked for the Department of Revenue, where he served as a Deputy Commissioner and a Special Assistant Attorney General. From 1979 to 1982, he was Associate General Counsel in Charge of Enforcement at the State Ethics Commission. Justice Cordy served as a federal prosecutor in the District of Massachusetts under U.S. Attorney William F. Weld from 1982 to 1987. While in that Office, he became Chief of the Public Corruption Unit. He was a partner in the law firm of Burns & Levinson in Boston from 1987 to 1990. From 1991 to 1993, he served as Chief Legal Counsel to Governor William F. Weld. Prior to his appointment to the Supreme Judicial Court , Justice Cordy was Managing Partner of the Boston office of the international law firm of McDermott, Will & Emery, which he joined in 1993. In addition to his other positions, he was a lecturer at Harvard Law School from 1987 to 1996, and is currently a member of the adjunct faculty of New England Law School , where he teaches advanced criminal procedure. He was appointed an Associate Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court in February, 2001. He is married and has four children.