Fernande R.V. Duffly is an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 lawyer and jurist from Massachusetts

Massachusetts

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...

. She was appointed by Governor Deval Patrick

Deval Patrick

Deval Laurdine Patrick is the 71st and current Governor of Massachusetts. A member of the Democratic Party, Patrick served as an Assistant United States Attorney General under President Bill Clinton...

 in December 2010 to serve as an Associate Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court is the highest court in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The SJC has the distinction of being the oldest continuously functioning appellate court in the Western Hemisphere.-History:...

. Her appointment comes following the elevation of Roderick L. Ireland

Roderick L. Ireland

Roderick L. Ireland was nominated to be Chief Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts by Governor Deval Patrick on November 4, 2010. Ireland was sworn in as Chief Justice on December 20, 2010. He was previously an Associate Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court, appointed in 1997 by...

 as Chief Justice on the court. Her nomination was confirmed 4-3 (with one recusal) by the Governor's Executive Council on January 26, 2011.) When she is sworn in, Duffly will become the first Asian-American to serve the court.

Duffly received her B.A.

Bachelor of Arts

A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...

 from the University of Connecticut

University of Connecticut

The admission rate to the University of Connecticut is about 50% and has been steadily decreasing, with about 28,000 prospective students applying for admission to the freshman class in recent years. Approximately 40,000 prospective students tour the main campus in Storrs annually...

 in 1973 and her law degree

Juris Doctor

Juris Doctor is a professional doctorate and first professional graduate degree in law.The degree was first awarded by Harvard University in the United States in the late 19th century and was created as a modern version of the old European doctor of law degree Juris Doctor (see etymology and...

 from Harvard Law School

Harvard Law School

Harvard Law School is one of the professional graduate schools of Harvard University. Located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, it is the oldest continually-operating law school in the United States and is home to the largest academic law library in the world. The school is routinely ranked by the U.S...

, where she was President of the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau

Harvard Legal Aid Bureau

The Harvard Legal Aid Bureau is the oldest student-run legal services office in the country, founded in 1913. Located at 23 Everett Street in Cambridge, MA, the Bureau's mission is to provide an important community service while giving student attorneys the opportunity to develop professional...

 in 1978. After law school, she joined the Boston law firm Warner and Stackpole. She continued to work as an attorney until her appointment to the Court of Appeals.

She lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts

Cambridge, Massachusetts

Cambridge is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Greater Boston area. It was named in honor of the University of Cambridge in England, an important center of the Puritan theology embraced by the town's founders. Cambridge is home to two of the world's most prominent...

.

External links

• Official Profile from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts