Justice Chauncey B. Wood was raised in rural Woodstock, CT. He graduated cum laude from Harvard College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English. He then earned his J.D. magna cum laude from Boston University School of Law, where he served as the editor in chief of the Public Interest Law Journal.
Upon graduation, Justice Wood worked for two years as an associate in the Business Crimes section of the Washington, D.C. firm, Dickstein, Shapiro & Morin. He also served for two years as a public defender in a felony trial unit and a post-conviction unit in the Maryland Public Defender’s Office. From 1996-2000 and since 2002, Attorney Wood has been a partner in a series of small Massachusetts law firms specializing in indigent criminal defense. In 2008, Justice Wood founded the Boston firm of Wood & Nathanson, LLP, specializing in post-conviction litigation.
Justice Wood argued his first appeal to the Supreme Judicial Court in 1998. Over the next 26 years, he litigated more than 100 serious criminal post-conviction cases in state and federal courts, including more than 50 direct appeals in the SJC and Massachusetts Appeals Court. He also tried nearly twenty criminal cases.
From 2004-2014, Justice Wood served on the Board of Directors of Suffolk Lawyers for Justice (SLJ), the largest county bar advocate organization in Massachusetts. In that capacity, and in partnership with the Committee for Public Counsel Services, he spearheaded a new application process for bar advocates that simultaneously improved the quality of bar advocates and diversified the SLJ panel. That model was eventually adopted across Massachusetts.
From 2014-2024, Justice Wood served on the Board of Directors of the Massachusetts Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (MACDL), and as the Chair of the Amicus Committee. In that capacity, Justice Wood created partnerships with many of the largest law firms in Massachusetts and several public interest organizations. In collaboration with these groups, Attorney Wood drafted and filed more than 40 amicus briefs on issues of first impression or important public interest in the SJC.
Justice Wood was appointed to the Appeals Court by Governor Maura Healey in December, 2024. His first panel sitting was on December 18, 2024, and he participated in a ceremonial oath of office event with Governor Healey on February 24, 2025.