Phillip Rapoza served as Chief Justice of the Massachusetts Appeals Court from 2006 until June 30, 2015, when he retired from the state judiciary.
He received a B.A. in history, magna cum laude, from Yale College and a J.D. degree from Cornell Law School. He has also received several honorary law degrees. He started his legal career as an assistant district attorney in Suffolk and Bristol counties and later was a partner in law firms in Fall River and New Bedford.
He was appointed to the Massachusetts bench in 1992 and served as a trial judge on the District Court and later the Superior Court. In 1998, he was appointed to the Appeals Court and in 2006 he was named Chief Justice of the court
In addition to his state court service Chief Justice Rapoza has served on two UN-backed war crimes tribunals, starting with the Special Panels for Serious Crimes in Timor-Leste, where he lived from 2003 to 2005. During that time he was on an unpaid leave of absence from his position as Associate Justice of the Appeals Court. He was the head international judge of the tribunal, hearing cases involving war crimes, crimes against humanity and other serious offenses committed before the country achieved independence. In his published memoirs, the Special Representative of the UN Secretary General described Rapoza as a “tower of strength” on the tribunal.
He was subsequently appointed by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to serve as an international judge on the Supreme Court Chamber of the UN-backed war crimes tribunal in Cambodia. Formally known as the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, the tribunal was established to bring to justice senior leaders and those most responsible for the deaths of as many as two million Cambodians during the rule of the Khmer Rouge.
Following his retirement from the Appeals Court, Chief Justice Rapoza traveled to Cambodia where he participated in the case of Khieu Samphan, the former Khmer Rouge head of state. The Supreme Court Chamber on which Rapoza served affirmed the defendant’s convictions for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. In 2024, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres thanked Rapoza for his service, writing that he had “played an indispensable role in the work of the Extraordinary Chambers” and had “demonstrated a deep commitment to the advancement of international criminal justice and accountability.”
Chief Justice Rapoza has been involved in other international endeavors as well. He was a co-founder and Chairman of the Commission for Justice Across the Atlantic, a legal exchange program between the United States and Portugal. He also served for ten years as President of the International Penal and Penitentiary Foundation, which is headquartered in Switzerland and promotes studies in the field of crime prevention and the treatment of offenders. Since 2023, he has served as the Honorary Consul of Timor-Leste in New England.
Chief Justice Rapoza has received numerous awards recognizing his judicial service. He received the Haskell Cohn Distinguished Service Award from the Boston Bar Association for bringing “compassion, wisdom and leadership” to the Massachusetts judiciary, stating that “[h]is keen intellect and remarkable efforts to advance justice globally have earned him wide regard as a leader in the field of international criminal justice.” He also received the Daniel Toomey Award for Judicial Excellence from the Massachusetts Bar Association for “ushering in an era of openness and transparency” at the Appeals Court and for being “a true missionary for justice and the rule of law.”
Chief Justice Rapoza was awarded the rank of Commander in the Order of Prince Henry the Navigator by the President of Portugal for "promoting closer relations between the judicial systems of our two countries." Similarly, he received the Brazilian Medal of International Merit for "strengthening the ties of friendship and cooperation between the judicial systems on the American continent." He received the St. Thomas More Distinguished Jurist Award of the Fall River Diocese and in 2024, Pope Francis awarded him the Vatican Cross Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice for distinguished service to the Catholic Church.
The grandson of Portuguese immigrants, Chief Justice Rapoza is a leader in his ethnic community and is very involved in Portuguese-American educational, charitable and cultural activities. He received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Portuguese American Leadership Council of the United States and was awarded the Medal of Merit by the municipality of Lagoa on the Azorean island of São Miguel, his family’s ancestral home.