Contemporary Issues in Courts: A Panel Discussion

About the Moderator

Paul C. Dawley is the chief justice of the Massachusetts District Court. He was appointed to the bench in 2001.

He began his judicial career as an associate justice of the Brockton District Court. In 2005, Dawley was appointed regional administrative justice of Region 2 in the District Court Department. In 2009, he was named first justice of the Brockton District Court. In September 2013, Trial Court Chief Justice Paula M. Carey appointed him chief justice of the District Court, the largest Trial Court department, with 158 judges and 62 courts across the commonwealth. He was reappointed to an additional term in September 2018.

Dawley previously served on the administrative committee for the District Court Department, as chair of the District Court Committee on Probation and as a justice of the Civil Appellate Division. During his tenure as chief justice, he has served on the Probation Advisory Committee, the Supreme Judicial Court Committee on Judicial Performance Evaluations and the Council of State Governments Justice Reinvestment Working Group. He also chaired the Trial Court Committee on Fees and Fines and co-chaired the Trial Court Pretrial Services Working Group.

Before his appointment to the bench, Dawley served as deputy first assistant district attorney in Plymouth County. In 2000, he received the William C. O’Malley Prosecutor of the Year Award from the Massachusetts District Attorneys Association. His honors also include the 2017 St. Thomas More Award from the Diocese of Fall River, the Peter J. Muse Award from the Quincy Bar Association and the 2018 Haskell Cohn Distinguished Judicial Service Award from the Boston Bar Association.

This event is sponsored by Stonehill College's Martin Institute for Law & Society.