Gov. Maura Healey nominated Gabrielle Wolohojian Wednesday to serve on the state’s highest court, rounding off the second of two picks the governor has so far been handed during her first term after a pair of judges stepped down from the bench.
The pick expands Healey’s mark on the Supreme Judicial Court, which until the vacancies, was entirely made up of judges selected by former Gov. Charlie Baker, a Republican. Wolohojian, a sixteen-year veteran of the Appeals Court, fills the seat vacated by Justice David Lowy, who retired from the court this month.
Healey said Wolohojian, a former partner of the governor, is qualified and prepared to serve on the Supreme Judicial Court.
“Justice Wolohojian has served on the Appeals Court with distinction and her work is widely respected by members of the bench and bar. She has an exceptional understanding of the law and a strong commitment to the administration of justice,” Healey said in a prepared statement.
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Gabrielle Wolohojian has served on the Appeals Court for 16 years. (Courtesy)
Wolohojian was first appointed to the Appeals Court in February 2008 and has sat on over 2,700 appeals and authored more than 900 decisions, according to Healey’s office. She serves as the chair of the Supreme Judicial Court’s Advisory Committee on the Rules of Appellate Procedure.
A New York native and granddaughter to Armenian immigrants, Wolohojian received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Rutgers University in 1982, a Ph.D. in English language and literature from the University of Oxford in 1987, and a J.D. from Columbia Law School in 1989.
She served as a law clerk, first to Judge Rya Zobel of the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts and then to Judge Bailey Aldrich of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit.
Wolohojian transitioned into private practice in 1991, joining the Boston law firm of Hale and Dorr, now known as WilmerHale, where she became a partner in the firm’s litigation department focused on state and federal courts.
Wolohojian left the firm to serve as an associate independent counsel on the Whitewater investigation. She returned to practice 16 months later.
The Supreme Judicial Court Nominating Commission unanimously recommended Wolohojian for the post, with member Martin Murphy arguing her tenure on the Appeals Court “has been exemplary.”
Murphy, a 40-year veteran of the Massachusetts legal scene, said Wolohojian is among the most experienced appellate judges in the state, “with a long and deep record of productivity.”
“Her opinions have addressed every aspect of Massachusetts law — criminal and civil — including appeals from the Superior, Juvenile, Probate and Family and Land Courts. No sitting judge or practicing lawyer in Massachusetts is more qualified for nomination to the SJC than Justice Wolohojian,” Murphy said in a Monday letter to Healey.
Another nominating commission member, Boston College Law School visiting professor Geraldine Hines, said Wolohojian is “uniquely qualified to join the SJC at a time when it enjoys and is committed to maintaining its reputation as one of the most respected supreme courts in the country.”
A former associate justice of the Supreme Judicial Court from 2014 to 2017, Hines said it is “a difficult job that demands intellectual vigor, respect for the rule of law, an unwavering commitment to equal justice under the law, and an impeccable work ethic.”
“Knowing Justice Wolohojian as I do from our time together on the Appeals Court and from my conversations with colleagues who continued to serve on the court after my departure, I can say that she is richly blessed with these qualifications,” Hines wrote in a Monday letter to Healey.
Wolohojian is Healey’s second pick for the Supreme Judicial Court. The Governor’s Council unanimously approved the governor’s first pick, former State Solicitor Elizabeth “Bessie” Dewar, to the bench last month.
