Hon. Herbert P. Wilkins

Chief Justice Herbert P. Wilkins served as Chief Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court from 1996 to 1999, and previously as an Associate Justice since 1972. From 1999 to 2014, Chief Justice Wilkins was the Huber Distinguished Visiting Professor at Boston College Law School.

Prior to his judicial appointment, Chief Justice Wilkins was a partner in the Boston law firm of Palmer & Dodge from 1960 to 1972, and had been an associate in the same firm from 1954 to 1959. He also served as town counsel for Acton from 1966 to 1972 and as town counsel for Concord from 1969 to 1972. He was also the chairman of Concord’s Board of Selectmen.

A graduate of Harvard College, Chief Justice Wilkins received an A.B. degree in 1951 and an LL.B. degree, magna cum laude, from Harvard Law School in 1954, where he was editor of the Harvard Law Review.

In 1991, Chief Justice Wilkins was the recipient of the prestigious Haskell Cohn Award for Distinguished Judicial Service presented by the Boston Bar Association, and in 1997, he received a Citation of Judicial Excellence from the Boston Bar Association.

Chief Justice Wilkins is a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers and a member of the council of the American Law Institute. He is a former president of the Board of Overseers of Harvard College and a former trustee of Milton Academy and Phillips Exeter Academy.

From 2005 to 2009, Chief Justice Wilkins served as Chair of the initial Massachusetts Access to Justice Commission. As a Fellow, Chief Justice Wilkins will assist the Supreme Judicial Court in an archivist project on issues relating to access to justice.