Brian H. Redmond

(2012-2024)

493 Mass. 1313.

At Boston on February 7, 2024, the Supreme Judicial Court announced the retirement of Brian H. Redmond as Reporter of Decisions of the Supreme Judicial Court and Appeals Court.

Present: Chief Justice Budd and Justices Gaziano, Kafker, Wendlandt, Georges, and Dewar.

The Chief Justice stated:

Good afternoon, and welcome to this special sitting of the Supreme Judicial Court honoring retiring Reporter of Decisions Brian H. Redmond.  We would like to especially welcome Mr. Redmond's wife, Maureen, and his other family members and friends who are joining us today.

As many of you know, Mr. Redmond retired as Reporter of Decisions of the Supreme Judicial Court and the Appeals Court, effective January 27, 2024.  We are enormously grateful for his distinguished service to the Commonwealth for more than two decades.

Mr. Redmond initially joined the Reporter's office in 2001 as an Assistant Reporter, and he was later promoted to Deputy Reporter in 2006.  On July 1, 2012, he was appointed as the Reporter of Decisions of the Supreme Judicial Court and the Appeals Court.

During his tenure as Reporter of Decisions, Mr. Redmond worked with three Chief Justices and twelve Associate Justices of the Supreme Judicial Court, as well as three Chief Justices and more than forty Justices at the Appeals Court.  He labored with great energy and care to publish our courts' appellate opinions as quickly as possible, while maintaining our high standards for quality.  All told, taking into account forthcoming volumes, Mr. Redmond will have supervised the editing and publication of thirty-one bound volumes of Supreme Judicial Court decisions in the Massachusetts Reports and twenty-two bound volumes of the Massachusetts Appeals Court Reports, comprising thousands of opinions.

Mr. Redmond also brought many innovations and improvements to the process of editing and publishing appellate opinions during his tenure as Reporter of Decisions.  Perhaps most importantly, he guided the transition to a paperless, fully electronic editing system.  This change proved to be invaluable during the COVID-19 pandemic, because it allowed the Reporter's office to quickly edit and publish decisions in a timely manner even while the staff was working remotely.  I should also mention that Mr. Redmond and his staff deserve special thanks for their extraordinary efforts not only in maintaining the continuity of operations, but also in editing and publishing a number of emergency decisions within a very tight time frame during the pandemic.

Mr. Redmond also took many steps to make appellate opinions more readily accessible to the public.  He started the practice of announcing forthcoming decisions in advance on Twitter, now X.  He transformed and expanded the online portal where new slip opinions are published and made available to the public.  He began publishing advance sheets in e-book form.  And he created a new online, searchable archive of Appeals Court summary dispositions issued under Appeals Court Rule 23.0, formerly Rule 1:28.

In addition, he carried out a number of internal reforms, including adoption of a unified style manual for both appellate courts, changing word processing applications from WordPerfect to Word, and taking on management responsibility for the Supreme Judicial Court's library and research resources.

And, on a lighter note, we will always remember the many  "Opening Day" luncheons for our court family that Mr. Redmond and the Reporter's office organized to celebrate the return of baseball and spring to Boston.

Not surprisingly, given his many accomplishments, Mr. Redmond has also been recognized as a leader among his peers in the Association of Reporters of Judicial Decisions, which includes Reporters of Decisions from not only the United States but across the world.  He has held every officer position in that organization, including president, vice-president, secretary, and now treasurer.

Brian, I know I speak for the Justices and staff of both the Supreme Judicial Court and the Appeals Court in saying that we have deeply valued your dedication to the mission of the Reporter's office and your many efforts to incorporate technological advances into its work.  We will miss you, and we wish you many years of health, happiness, and enjoyment in your retirement.

These remarks are to be published in the official reports of the court.