Justice Roderick L. Ireland
Roderick L. Ireland is the Senior Associate Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court. He was appointed in 1997, and is the first African-American to sit on this bench in its over three hundred year history. Previously, he served at the Massachusetts Appeals Court for seven years, and the Boston Juvenile Court for almost thirteen years.
Justice Ireland received his B.A. from Lincoln University, J.D. from Columbia University Law School, LL.M. from Harvard Law School, and Ph.D. in Law, Policy and Society from Northeastern University. He began his legal career in 1969 as a Neighborhood Legal Services attorney, and then worked as a public defender from 1971 to 1973 with the Roxbury Defenders Committee, first as chief attorney, then deputy and executive director. From 1975 to 1977 he served as Assistant Secretary and Chief Legal Counsel for the Massachusetts Executive Office of Administration and Finance. In 1977 he was also Chairman of the Massachusetts Board of Appeal on Motor Vehicle Liability Policies and Bonds.
Justice Ireland has been an adjunct faculty member at Northeastern University since 1978, and has been on the faculty of the Appellate Judges Seminar at New York University Law School since 2001. He is the author of Massachusetts Juvenile Law, 2d edition, 2006, published by West Publishing; the first edition was published in 1993.
Justice Ireland has received a number of honors and awards, including the Great Friend of Justice Award from the Massachusetts Bar Foundation (2008); the Judicial Excellence Award from the Massachusetts Bar Association and Lawyers Weekly Newspaper (2001); the Judicial Excellence Award from the Massachusetts Academy of Trial Attorneys (1999); the St. Thomas More Award from Boston College Law School (1998); the Judicial Excellence Award from the Massachusetts Judges Conference (1996); the Distinguished Judicial Service Award from the Boston Bar Association (1990); the Boston Covenant Peace Prize (1982); and a number of honorary Doctor of Law degrees. Active in his community, Justice Ireland is a frequent speaker in schools, churches and community forums.