Hon. Bettina Borders

3-hon-bettina-bordersThe Honorable Bettina Borders (retired) received her undergraduate degree from Goddard College, as well as a master’s degree from Columbia University and a law degree from the University of Connecticut. Prior to her law career, Judge Borders ran the first sexual assault crisis service in the country which, among other things, helped to develop the first rape crisis kit for use in hospitals. Judge Borders also ran a college women’s center in Connecticut.

Upon entering the practice of law, Judge Borders was an associate at the Law Office of Philip Beauregard and a partner at the firm of Borders, Littman, and Peppard. Judge Borders then sat on the bench for 16 years at the Bristol County Juvenile Court.  Judge Borders served as an Associate Justice for 5 years and as First Justice for 11 years. During her time on the bench, Judge Borders, among other things, was: a member of the Administrative Office of the Trial Court’s Committee on Specialty Court Expansion; Chair of the Juvenile Court’s Access to Justice Committee; Chair of the Bristol County Juvenile Detention Alternative Initiative Committee; and Sitting Judge for 4 Bristol County Juvenile Drug Courts.

Judge Borders has also been a leader in several grant funded pilot projects in the courts. She was a representative for a project piloted in Bristol County with funding from the MacArthur Foundation, the goal of which was to develop alternatives to the juvenile justice system for minors in the court system with mental illness. Additionally, Judge Borders was a leader in securing two multi-year grants to improve family engagement and effectiveness in the Drug Courts. Recently, Judge Borders was honored with the Jacobs Leadership Award, given to a community leader on the south coast of Massachusetts.

For her fellowship project, Judge Borders will work with the Justice Bridge Legal Center at the University of Massachusetts School of Law (Dartmouth). Justice Bridge provides resources to new attorneys to help them provide reduced-fee legal services to modest income clients. Judge Borders will be mentoring new attorneys at the New Bedford office of Justice Bridge. She will also be working with center staff to identify and support other projects that combine legal and community efforts to insure better access to justice. Once such project is a “families first” initiative in the Bristol County Juvenile Drug Courts.