Press Release  Margot Botsford appointed as State Ethics Commission Chair

Boston, MA — The Honorable Margot Botsford (ret.), formerly an Associate Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, has been appointed by Governor Maura Healey to the State Ethics Commission and designated by the Governor as the Commission’s Chair. Chair Botsford succeeds former Chair Maria J. Krokidas.

Chair Botsford was appointed to the Supreme Judicial Court in 2007 by Governor Deval Patrick and served until her retirement in 2017. Previously, she served for 18 years as an Associate Justice of the Superior Court, a position to which Governor Michael Dukakis appointed her in 1989. Prior to her service on the bench, Chair Botsford was an Assistant Attorney General under Attorney General Francis X. Bellotti, an Assistant District Attorney in the Office of Middlesex District Attorney Scott Harshbarger, and a Law Clerk to Supreme Judicial Court Justice Francis J. Quirico. She also practiced law in the private sector.

Chair Botsford, a magna cum laude graduate of Barnard College, received her law degree from Northeastern University School of Law and holds a master’s degree in public administration from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. She is a trustee emerita of Northeastern University, has taught at the Northeastern University School of Law, and has served on the university’s governing boards.

Among Chair Botsford’s professional awards and honors are Judicial Excellence Awards from the Massachusetts Judicial Conference and the Massachusetts Academy of Trial Attorneys, the Haskell Cohn Distinguished Judicial Service Award from the Boston Bar Association, the Boston Bar Association President’s Award, the Barnard College Distinguished Alumna Award, and honorary degrees from Northeastern University School of Law and New England Law Boston.

The State Ethics Commission is a non-partisan, independent state agency which administers, provides advice and training concerning, and civilly enforces the conflict of interest and financial disclosure laws. There are five Commissioners: three, including the Commission Chair, are appointed by the Governor, one is appointed by the Secretary of the Commonwealth, and one is appointed by the Attorney General. No more than two of the Commissioners appointed by the Governor, and no more than three Commissioners overall, may be from the same political party.

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