Hon. Merita A. Hopkins (ret.), Chair
Hon. Merita A. Hopkins (ret.) was appointed to the Commission by Governor Maura Healey in May 2026. Formerly an Associate Justice of the Massachusetts Superior Court, she earned a B.A. degree from Boston College and a J.D. degree from Suffolk University Law School.
Chair Hopkins was appointed to the Superior Court in 2006 by Governor Mitt Romney and served until her retirement in 2021. She previously served as Corporation Counsel, then Chief of Staff, for the City of Boston. Prior to that, she was an Assistant District Attorney for the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office, a special agent for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and an attorney in private practice.
Eron Hackshaw
Eron Hackshaw was appointed to the Commission by Attorney General Maura Healey in December 2020. He is the Assistant Director for Government and Public Interest Careers at Boston University School of Law. A trained and certified Mediator with the Harvard Law School Mediation Program, Commissioner Hackshaw has served as Court Liaison for the Small Claims session in Chelsea District Court and as a Community Mediator in the Roxbury Division, Boston Municipal Court. He is a graduate of Morgan State University and Howard University School of Law.
Hon. Thomas A. Connors (ret.), Vice Chair
Hon. Thomas A. Connors (ret.) was appointed to the Commission by Secretary of the Commonwealth William F. Galvin in March 2023. He received a B. A. Degree, magna cum laude from Boston College, and later a J.D. degree from Boston College Law School. Following graduation, he conducted a general legal practice in Dorchester for eighteen years, with a concentration in criminal litigation. The Boston Bar Association presented him its Thurgood Marshall Award for public service in providing trial advocacy to indigent criminal defendants in Suffolk County.
In 1995, he was appointed a Circuit Justice of the District Court, where he served in numerous Courts in the Boston area. In 2004, he was named and confirmed as a Justice of the Superior Court, where he served for sixteen years, sitting primarily in Boston and Dedham. He served as the Regional Administrative Justice for Norfolk County for the six years prior to his retirement in 2020. He was recognized by that County’s Bar Association as Person of the Year in 2019. During his years as a judge, he returned to Boston College Law School to teach as a member of its adjunct faculty, and he also lectured at numerous judicial trainings conducted by the Trial Court and other organizations.
Among activities since his retirement from the Superior Court, Judge Connors has been named to the English High School Alumni Board, and he also has served as an advisor to the school’s Law and Protective Services Pathways Program. He has also served as a Conciliator with the American Academy of Trial Lawyers Superior Court Statewide Conciliation Program.
Patrick Hanley
Patrick Hanley was appointed to the Commission by Governor Maura Healey in June 2025. A partner at Boston-based law firm Butters Brazilian LLP, Commissioner Hanley earned a B.A. degree from Brandeis University and a J.D. degree from Northeastern University School of Law.
Prior to joining Butters Brazilian, Commissioner Hanley worked for over ten years at the Office of the Attorney General of Massachusetts, where he was an Assistant Attorney General and served as the office’s first Chief of Gaming Enforcement. Prior to that, he was an Associate at Brody, Hardoon, Perkins & Kesten, LLP, and served as an Assistant District Attorney in the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office. From 2003-2004, he served as Law Clerk to the Justices of the Massachusetts Superior Court. He also serves as outside general counsel to the State Police Association of Massachusetts.
Commissioner Hanley teaches a Legal Ethics Seminar at Boston University School of Law. He has also been a guest lecturer at the Harvard Law School Trial Advocacy Workshop, Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education, the National Cyber Crime Conference, and a Guberman Fellow at Brandeis University.
Jeffrey T. Collins
Jeffrey T. Collins was appointed to the Commission by Governor Maura Healey in November 2025. A partner at Boston-based law firm Morgan, Brown & Joy, Commissioner Collins earned a B.A. degree from the University of Massachusetts and a J.D. degree from the University of New Hampshire School of Law.
Prior to joining Morgan, Brown & Joy, Commissioner Collins worked for 18 years at the Office of the Attorney General of Massachusetts, where he was an Assistant Attorney General and served as Deputy Chief of the Government Bureau's Trial Division. Before joining the Attorney General's Office, he was Legal Counsel and Senior Policy Analyst for the Massachusetts House of Representatives and the Joint Committee on Commerce and Labor. Commissioner Collins served for two decades as an intelligence analyst and officer in the U.S. Navy Reserve and is a veteran of the Iraq War.
Commissioner Collins teaches at the National Institute for Trial Advocacy, has served as an adjunct professor at Suffolk University Law School, and has taught at the National Attorneys General Training & Research Institute.
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| Last updated: | May 7, 2026 |
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