Please note the information below is a historical biography of the Hon. Scott L. Kafker originally published when he served as an Associate Justice (2001-2015) and Chief Justice (2015-2017) of the Appeals Court. Hon. Kafker was appointed to the Supreme Judicial Court by Governor Charlie D. Baker on August 21, 2017. Click here to read his updated biographical information.
Scott L. Kafker graduated from Amherst College in 1981 and from the University of Chicago Law School in 1985, where he was on the Law Review. After law school, he served as a law clerk to Justice Charles L. Levin of the Michigan Supreme Court, then as a law clerk to Judge Mark L. Wolf of the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts. In 1987, he joined the Boston law firm of Foley, Hoag & Eliot as an associate. From 1991 to 1993, Justice Kafker was deputy chief legal counsel to Governor William F. Weld. In 1993, he was named chief legal counsel for the Massachusetts Port Authority. He was appointed to the Appeals Court by Governor Paul Cellucci and joined the Court on March 7, 2001. Governor Charlie Baker appointed him the sixth Chief Justice of the Appeals Court on July 22, 2015. Chief Justice Kafker served as Chief Justice from July 22, 2015 to August 21, 2017 when he was appointed by Governor Charles D. Baker to the Supreme Judicial Court.
Justice Kafker taught state constitutional law at Boston College Law School from 2009 to 2015. He has also served on the Visiting Committee of the University of Chicago Law School. He is the author of book reviews, comments and articles appearing in the University of Chicago Law Review, The Labor Lawyer, Massachusetts Law Review, Michigan State Law Review, New England Law Review, Washington and Lee Law Review, and the Rutgers Law Journal. He served on the Supreme Judicial Court Advisory Committee on the Rules of Civil and Appellate Procedure from 2008 to 2015. He is also a member of the American Law Institute.