The Massachusetts Commission on Judicial Conduct has elected Susan M. Finegan, a Member of the Litigation Section of Mintz, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, P.C. , as Chairman of the Commission.  Ms. Finegan will replace outgoing Chairman, Joseph Steinfield. John J. Carroll, Jr., a partner at the law firm of Meehan, Boyle, Black and Bogdanow, was elected Vice Chairman, replacing the Honorable Judith Fabricant.

The Commission’s mission is to enforce standards of judicial conduct for Massachusetts state judges in a manner that, while respecting judicial independence, promotes public confidence in the judiciary and preserves the integrity of the judicial process.  The Commission serves as the forum for complaints alleging misconduct by judges both on and off the bench, and for allegations of mental or physical disability affecting a judge’s performance.  The Commission is made up of three judges appointed by the Supreme Judicial Court, three attorneys appointed by the Chief Justice of the Trial Court, and three lay people appointed by the Governor.  Members serve non-renewable terms of six years. 

Ms. Finegan, who was first appointed a member of the Commission in 2010, serves as the Chair of Mintz’s Pro Bono Committee and its Boston Office’s Hiring Committee.  The firm’s first full-time Pro Bono Partner, she is the recipient of many awards for her pro bono work, including those from the International Bar Association, the Women’s Bar Association, and Boston College Law School.  She is active in a number of professional activities, including serving as Chair of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court’s Standing Committee on Pro Bono Legal Services; a member of the Access to Justice Commission; and a member of the Board of Directors of Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education, Inc. (MCLE).  She is also a former member of the Massachusetts Judicial Nominating Commission and the Boston Bar Association Council.  A graduate of Dartmouth College and Boston College Law School, she is President of the Dartmouth Association of Alumni and on the Board of Visitors of the Nelson A. Rockefeller Center for Public Policy at Dartmouth College.  In addition to her work at Mintz, Ms. Finegan has served as the Legal Director at the Victim Rights Law Center, and as a law clerk to both the Honorable Andrew A. Caffrey of the United States District Court and the Honorable Francis P. O'Connor of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court.