Phillip Rapoza
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Phillip Rapoza | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Occupation | Judge |
| Years active | 1992-2015 |
Phillip Rapoza (b. 1950) is a retired American judge. He was chief justice of the Massachusetts Appeals Court until his retirement in 2015. He was appointed to this court in 1998 and became the Chief Justice in 2006. He has worked internationally, serving on the Special Panels for Serious Crimes in Timor-Leste and heading a UN Criminal Justice Advisory Team in Haiti. He was also involved in programs in Cambodia relating to the Khmer Rouge Tribunal.
Rapoza grew up in New Bedford, Massachusetts. He was educated at Yale and Cornell. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in history from Yale College and a Doctor of Law degree from Cornell Law School.[1]
Legal career
Rapoza was assistant district attorney in Suffolk and Bristol County District and later practiced as a criminal defense attorney in Fall River and New Bedford. He was appointed as a judge to the Fall River District Court in 1992, where he served for four years before his appointment to the Superior Court. He stayed in the Superior Court until his appointment in 1998 to the Massachusetts Appeals Court, the intermediate appellate court for the state of Massachusetts. In 2006 he became its Chief Justice. Rapoza retired from the judiciary on June 30, 2015, but continued his international work.[2][3][4]