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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 13, 2018

Governor Administers Ceremonial Oath of Office Swearing In Honorable Mark V. Green as Chief Justice of the Massachusetts Appeals Court

BOSTON, MA -- At a ceremony in the John Adams Courthouse in Boston, Governor Charles D. Baker today administered the ceremonial Oath of Office to the Honorable Mark V. Green, swearing him in as Chief Justice of the Massachusetts Appeals Court.

"I am confident that Mark Green's 17 years on the Appeals Court have prepared him well for service as the Chief," said Governor Baker. "During his long and distinguished service on the Court he has demonstrated his ability to produce thoughtful and well received appellate decisions and to lead many important internal initiatives designed to modernize the Appeals Court and to improve its efficiency."

Following the ceremonial Oath of Office, Chief Justice Green addressed the large crowd gathered in the Great Hall. "I am humbled and honored to become the seventh Chief Justice of the Appeals Court," he said. "The Court is today at an inflection point. The Baker-Polito Administration in the past two years has appointed twelve of the twenty-five Justices currently on the Court - thirteen of twenty-five if you count my appointment as Chief. Only six of the current Justices, including me, have served for more than ten years.  We are a new court, but we are aware of the richness of our past. Since my appointment I have gathered ideas and suggestions from my judicial colleagues and from all members of the Appeals Court staff, and I am excited about carrying their insights to fruition."

Supreme Judicial Court Justice Elspeth B. Cypher delivered opening remarks and served as Master of Ceremonies. Other speakers included Governor Baker and Lieutenant Governor Karyn E. Polito, Supreme Judicial Court Chief Justice Ralph D. Gants, Supreme Judicial Court Justice Scott L. Kafker, and Land Court Justice Karyn F. Scheier.

Chief Justice Green spoke of his commitment to modernizing the Appeals Court with the embrace of technology. "I am proud of the Court's progress into the digital age. The Massachusetts Appeals Court leads the nation in terms of end-to-end digital content management. Without getting into the weeds, that means that we are getting e-filed briefs, transcripts and record appendices from our litigants, and our judges and staff are working with that material mostly without resort to hard copy," Chief Justice Green said. "We are leading the nation, but we are also leading - and driving - the judicial branch in Massachusetts. I am proud of our court, both for our innovation and for the consistent quality of our work."

Chief Justice Green was administered the official oath on December 6, 2017, following his confirmation by the Governor's Council. Chief Justice Green fills the seat previously held by the Honorable Scott L. Kafker, who was appointed an Associate Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court on August 21, 2017.

Chief Justice Green was born in Moline, Illinois, on September 1, 1956. He received his A.B. degree, with distinction in all subjects, from Cornell University in 1978, and his J.D. degree, cum laude, from Harvard Law School in 1982. Chief Justice Green practiced transactional real estate law as an associate with the firms of Herrick & Smith and Goulston & Storrs until 1990, when he accepted a position with Shawmut Bank as Vice President and Senior Counsel for Real Estate. From 1994 to 1995, Chief Justice Green was General Counsel of The Mortgage Acquisition Corporation. He joined the legal department of BayBank, N.A. in 1995, where he remained through its merger with the Bank of Boston in 1996.

In May of 1997, Chief Justice Green was appointed by Governor William F. Weld as an Associate Justice of the Massachusetts Land Court, where he served until his appointment by Governor Jane M. Swift to the Appeals Court on November 1, 2001. Chief Justice Green served as Associate Justice of the Appeals Court from 2001 to 2017.

While at the Land Court, Chief Justice Green chaired a committee that promulgated the Land Court's Guidelines for Registered Land. In 2003, at the request of the Supreme Judicial Court, Chief Justice Green chaired the Study Committee on Trial Transcripts. From 2012 until his appointment as Chief Justice, he chaired the combined appellate courts' IT Steering Committee where, among other initiatives, he led the courts' implementation of electronic filing.

Chief Justice Green has been a panelist on numerous continuing legal education programs sponsored by Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education and the Boston Bar Association, among others. He also has been a guest lecturer for courses at the Harvard Business School and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Center for Real Estate Studies. From 2007 until his appointment as Chief Justice, he served as a member of the Board of Editors of the Boston Bar Journal. In 2005 and 2009, Chief Justice Green participated in rule of law exchange programs in Russia and, in 2011, he was a member of a rule of law exchange in the Peoples Republic of China focused on the American jury trial system. 

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.

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