Justice Barbara A. Lenk
Honorable Barbara A. Lenk, Associate Justice, was born in
Queens
,
New York. She received a B.A., magna cum laude, from
Fordham
University
in 1972; a Ph.D. in political philosophy from
Yale
University
in 1978; and a J.D. from
Harvard
Law
School
in 1979. She began her legal career in 1979 at the
Boston
law firm of Brown, Rudnick, Freed & Gesmer (now known as Brown Rudnick LLP), and became a partner there. Her practice focused on civil litigation, with a specialty in First Amendment matters. Justice Lenk was appointed to the Supreme Judicial Court
by Governor Deval Patrick in 2011. She had previously served on the Superior Court, to which she was appointed by Governor William Weld in 1993, and on the Massachusetts Appeals Court, to which she was appointed by Governor Weld in 1995. Justice Lenk has been involved in a number of bar-related and other civic activities. She has served on the Board of Directors of the Volunteer Lawyers Project of the Boston Bar Association; as Chair of the Board of Editors of the Boston Bar Journal; and as a member of the Judicial Administration Council of the Massachusetts Bar Association. She currently serves as a Trustee of Western New England University and as a member of the Boston Inn of Court.