Press Release  New Chairman and Vice Chairman for Commission on Judicial Conduct

Boston, MA — The Massachusetts Commission on Judicial Conduct announced today that it has elected new officers. The new Chairman is Attorney Susan M. Finegan, a litigation partner at the law firm of Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, P.C. The Commission’s new Vice Chairman is Attorney John J. Carroll, Jr., a partner at the law firm of Meehan, Boyle, Black and Bogdanow. Many thanks are extended to the outgoing Chairman, Attorney Joseph D. Steinfield, and Vice Chairman, the Honorable Judith Fabricant.

Ms. Finegan was appointed a member of the Commission in 2010. She serves as the Chair of Mintz Levin’s Pro Bono Committee and its Boston Office’s Hiring Committee. The firm’s first full-time Pro Bono Partner, she is the recipient of many awards for her pro bono work, including those from the International Bar Association, the Women’s Bar Association, and Boston College Law School. She is active in a number of professional activities, including serving as Chair of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court’s Standing Committee on Pro Bono Legal Services; a member of the Access to Justice Commission; and a member of the Board of Directors of Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education, Inc. (MCLE). She is also a former member of the Massachusetts Judicial Nominating Commission and the Boston Bar Association Council. A graduate of Dartmouth College and Boston College Law School, she is President of the Dartmouth Association of Alumni and on the Board of Visitors of the Nelson A. Rockefeller Center for Public Policy at Dartmouth College. In addition to her work at Mintz Levin, Ms. Finegan has served as the Legal Director at the Victim Rights Law Center, and as a law clerk to both the Honorable Andrew A. Caffrey of the United States District Court and the Honorable Francis P. O'Connor of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court.

Mr. Carroll was appointed to the Commission in 2012. He is a graduate of Boston College (1968) and Boston University Law School (1974). Between college and law school, Mr. Carroll served on active duty as a Naval officer. From 1976-1977, he worked for South Dakota Legal Services, providing legal assistance to the Pine Ridge and Rosebud Sioux Reservations. He has been a member of the Massachusetts Bar since 1974, and became a member of the South Dakota Bar in 1976, while living there. In the late 1970’s, Mr. Carroll spent two more years in Legal Services (Merrimack Valley Legal Services) and then two years as an in-house counsel for an insurance company. In 1980, he joined Parker, Coulter, Daley and White, an insurance defense firm. In 1985, he left to join the firm then known as Meehan, Boyle and Cohen. He has been there ever since. While practicing law and raising a family consumed much of his time, Mr. Carroll continued to be active in associations which provide legal representation to those most in need. Over the years, he has handled pro bono cases for the Boston Bar Association’s Volunteer Lawyers Project and has volunteered for the Catholic Lawyer’s Guild at the St. Francis House. He has been on the Board of Directors of Greater Boston Legal Services since 1996. He has been 3 actively involved in the Massachusetts Bar Association since that time. Mr. Carroll has served on the Judicial Administrative Council (Chair, 1997-1998), Individual Rights and Responsibility Council (Chair, 1989-1999), and the Massachusetts Bar Association Superior Court Case Flow Management Task Force (Chair, 2001-2002). In addition, Mr. Carroll has been involved in the Massachusetts Bar Association Bench Bar Committee (Chair, 2003) and the Massachusetts Bar Association House of Delegates from 2003-2008. From 2001-2007, Mr. Carroll served as a Hearings Officer at the Board of Bar Overseers and from 2002-2008 served on the Board of Governors of the Massachusetts Academy of Trial Attorneys. In 2008, Mr. Carroll received the Massachusetts Bar Foundation’s President’s Award. In 2010, he became the MBA’s representative on the Equal Justice Coalition and has been the Chair of the EJC since 2013.

The Commission on Judicial Conduct is established and governed by Massachusetts General Laws, Chapter 211C. In accord with the mandate of that statute, the Commission’s mission is to enforce standards of judicial conduct for Massachusetts state judges in a manner that, while respecting judicial independence, promotes public confidence in the judiciary and preserves the integrity of the judicial process. The Commission serves as the forum for complaints alleging misconduct by judges both on and off the bench, and for allegations of mental or physical disability affecting a judge’s performance. The Commission is made up of three judges appointed by the Supreme Judicial Court, three attorneys appointed by the Chief Justice of the Trial Court, and three lay people appointed by the Governor. Members serve nonrenewable terms of six years.

Please visit the Commission’s website for more information: www.mass.gov/cjc.

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