Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Justice John M. Greaney will join the faculty of Suffolk University Law School in December and become director of its Macaronis Institute for Trial and Appellate Advocacy, the school announced today. Under state law, Greaney would have been required to retire in April, when he reaches age 70. He has been a judge since 1974, starting as presiding judge of the Hampden County Housing Court, then later serving on the Massachusetts Superior Court and the Massachusetts Appeals Court before then Gov. Michael Dukakis named him to the SJC in 1989.

I presently serve on the SJC’s Judiciary/Media Committee, which Justice Greaney cochairs with Larry McDermott, the publisher of The Republican in Springfield. But my experience with him predates my attending law school, when I worked as a community organizer in Springfield and sometimes accompanied tenants to eviction hearings in his courtroom. What struck me about him then, and what continues to impress me about him now, is his compassion as a judge. Undoubtedly, it will serve him well as a law professor.

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Bob is a lawyer, veteran legal journalist, and award-winning blogger and podcaster. In 2011, he was named to the inaugural Fastcase 50, honoring “the law’s smartest, most courageous innovators, techies, visionaries and leaders.” Earlier in his career, he was editor-in-chief of several legal publications, including The National Law Journal, and editorial director of ALM’s Litigation Services Division.