Honorable Scott L. Kafker to be Sworn In as Chief Justice of the Massachusetts Appeals Court
WHAT:
On October 5, Governor Charles D. Baker will deliver a ceremonial administration of the Oath of Office swearing in the Honorable Scott L. Kafker as the sixth Chief Justice of theMassachusetts Appeals Court. The ceremony will be held in the Great Hall of the John Adams Courthouse.
Chief Justice 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, Chief 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.
Chief Justice Kafker has taught state constitutional law at Boston College Law School since 2009. He has also served on the Visiting Committee of the University of Chicago Law School. Heis the author of book reviews, comments and articles appearing in the University of Chicago Law Review, the Labor Lawyer, the Washington and Lee Law Review, the Michigan State Law Review, the New England Law Review, and the Rutgers Law Journal. He serves on the Supreme Judicial Court Advisory Committee on the Rules of Civil and Appellate Procedure. He is also a member of the American Law Institute and a trustee of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.
The Appeals Court is a court of general appellate jurisdiction and has twenty-five statutory justices, including the chief justice. The court decides between 1,400 and 1,700 cases a year. The justices, who sit in panels of three, review decisions made by Trial Court judges in the seven court departments. In addition to its panel jurisdiction, the Appeals Court runs a continuous single justice session, with a separate docket.
WHEN:
Monday, October 5, 2015
4:00 p.m.
WHERE:
John Adams Courthouse
One Pemberton Square
Boston, MA 02108
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