Judith Cathy Arnold Cowin (born April 29, 1942) is a retired justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court.

Biography

She was born in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

. Cowin received her undergraduate degree from Wellesley College and her J.D. degree from Harvard Law School. She began her legal career in 1971 as assistant legal counsel to the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health. The following year, she became legal counsel for the Office of the Chief Justice of the District Court Department. From 1979 to 1991, she worked as an Assistant District Attorney in Norfolk County, and in 1980 she was a clinical field supervisor at Harvard Law School. She was appointed to the Superior Court in 1991. Governor

Paul Cellucci Argeo Paul Cellucci (; April 24, 1948 – June 8, 2013) was an American politician and diplomat from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. A Republican, he served as the 69th governor of Massachusetts from 1999 to 2001, and as the United State ...

appointed her to the Supreme Judicial Court in 1999 in 1991. Cardinal Bernard Law criticized her nomination. She announced that she would retire from the court in April 2011.''Boston Globe''
Jonathan Salzman, "For Patrick, another SJC opening," February 1, 2011
accessed April 5, 2011

Barbara Lenk Barbara A. Lenk (born December 2, 1950) is an American attorney and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. On April 4, 2011, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick nominated her to that position and s ...

was nominated to succeed her and won confirmation on May 4, 2011. Cowin is married to retired Appeals Court Justice William I. Cowin. They have three grown children.

Notable opinions

*'' M.P.M. Builders, LLC v. Dwyer'', 442 Mass. 87, 809 N.E.2d 1053 (2004)

Notes

1942 births Living people Wellesley College alumni Harvard Law School alumni Massachusetts state court judges American women judges Justices of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court 21st-century American women 20th-century women judges 21st-century women judges {{US-judge-stub