Press Release  Trial Court Chief Justice Jeffrey A. Locke to Retire

BOSTON, MA — Massachusetts Trial Court Chief Justice Jeffrey A. Locke will retire from the court on December 21, 2023, upon reaching the mandatory retirement age. The Supreme Judicial Court Justices appointed him Chief Justice of the Trial Court in January 2022.

In November, the Justices of the Supreme Judicial Court appointed the Hon. Heidi Brieger to succeed Chief Justice Locke as Chief Justice of the Trial Court, effective December 22, 2023.

“Chief Justice Locke retires after a remarkable career in public service, including 22 years as a judge,” said Supreme Judicial Court Chief Justice Kimberly S. Budd. “Since his appointment as Trial Court Chief Justice, he has played a critical role in helping the Trial Court get back to normal and reducing the trial backlog following the COVID-19 pandemic. We are enormously grateful for his leadership during the last two years.”

"I am grateful to the justices of the Supreme Judicial Court for the confidence they placed in me, to Trial Court Administrator Tom Ambrosino, and to former Trial Court Administrator John Bello, along with the many judges, clerks and court staff with whom I have worked so closely over the past two decades,” Chief Justice Locke said. “This has truly been the privilege of a lifetime.”

The Chief Justice of the Trial Court is the policy and judicial head of the Trial Court, which includes the Boston Municipal, District, Housing, Juvenile, Land, Probate and Family, and Superior Courts, the Office of the Commissioner of Probation, and the Office of Jury Commissioner. The Chief Justice of the Trial Court has authority over all matters of judicial policy and appoints the departmental chief justices, oversees case flow management and the establishment of programs and procedures to continuously improve access to justice by all segments of the Commonwealth's population. The Chief Justice partners with the Court Administrator to oversee the administration of the Trial Court, with its 393 judges, 6,500 staff, and 94 courthouses.

Chief Justice Locke was appointed to the Superior Court bench in 2001 by Governor Jane Swift. He served as chair of the Massachusetts Sentencing Commission from 2018 to 2022. He was the regional administrative justice for criminal cases in Suffolk County from 2012 to 2015, and for all cases in Plymouth County from 2007 to 2011. He served on several court committees, including the SJC Standing Advisory Committee on the Rules of Criminal Procedure; the Superior Court Committee on Sentencing Best Practices; and the Trial Court Fiscal Task Force.

Prior to Chief Justice Locke’s appointment to the bench, he served as Commissioner of the Department of Social Services from April 1999 to October 2001, initially in an interim capacity. He was District Attorney in Norfolk County from 1997 to 1999, following eight years as an Assistant U.S. Attorney, where he was the Deputy Chief of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force from 1994 to 1997. Prior to that he worked in the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office, including three years as chief of the Public Protection Bureau.

Chief Justice Locke has taught Trial Practice at Boston College Law School since 2018, and previously taught at Northeastern School of Law. He received his law degree from Boston University and a bachelor’s degree from Georgetown University.

###