Margot Botsford (born March 16, 1947, in New York, New York) is an American lawyer and jurist from Massachusetts. She was appointed by Governor Deval Patrick in 2007 to serve as an associate justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court.

Margot Botsford
Botsford in 2024
Associate Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
In office
September 4, 2007 – March 15, 2017
Appointed byDeval Patrick
Preceded byMartha B. Sosman
Succeeded byElspeth B. Cypher
Associate Justice of the Massachusetts Superior Court
In office
1989–2007
Appointed byMichael Dukakis
Personal details
Born (1947-03-16) March 16, 1947 (age 77)
New York City, New York
Alma materBarnard College
Northeastern University School of Law
Harvard Kennedy School

Biography edit

Botsford graduated magna cum laude with a B.A. from Barnard College in 1969. At Barnard, she was a member of the Phi Beta Kappa Society. She earned her J.D. degree from Northeastern University School of Law in 1973. She later earned a Master of Public Administration degree from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University in 2007.

Upon graduating law school in 1973, Botsford served as a law clerk to Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Justice Francis J. Quirico. She subsequently served as an Assistant Attorney General under Attorney General Francis X. Bellotti for four years. She later served as an assistant district attorney in the office of Middlesex County District Attorney Scott Harshbarger for six years.

Botsford practiced law in the private sector as an associate at the firm of Hill & Barlow for one year before going on to serve as a partner at Rosenfeld, Botsford & Krokidas, a Boston law firm, for three years.

 
Botsford during her swearing-in ceremony to the Supreme Judicial Court

In 1989, Botsford was appointed as an associate justice of the Superior Court, where she served for eighteen years until her appointment to the Supreme Judicial Court after the death of Justice Martha B. Sosman.

Botsford has also taught at the Northeastern University School of Law, Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education (MCLE) Boston University Law School, the National Judicial College, and the Flaschner Judicial Institute.

External links edit

Legal offices
Preceded by Associate Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
2007–2017
Succeeded by