Judith Nelson Dilday (born 1943[1]) is an American lawyer and the first person of color appointed as a judge of the Massachusetts Probate and Family Court.[2][3][1]

Education and personal life

Dilday grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.[3] Her grandparents were originally from Alabama but traveled north during the Great Migration.[3]

Dilday studied French at the University of Pittsburgh and was graduated in 1966.[3][4][1] She earned several graduate credits in French at Millersville State College.[1] After graduation, Dilday was a public school French teacher in Pittsburgh for four years before moving to Boston.[3][1] She went on to the Boston University School of Law and was graduated with the class of 1972.[2][4][1] While in law school, she met her husband, James Dilday.[3] The couple went on to have children.[3]

Dilday began her career in private practice and in government service.[5] She rose to become the first black president of the Women's Bar Association in 1990 to 1991.[5][1] She also worked in the law firm of Stern and Shapiro and then the Department of the Interior's solicitor's office.[1] Dilday was a founding partner of Burnham, Hines & Dilday, the first law firm in New England owned by African American women.[6][3][1] She was also the first black woman to work in the Suffolk County District Attorney's office.[3][1]

Dilday was appointed to the Probate and Family Court in 1993 as a circuit judge.[5] At the time, she was one of only four black women on the Massachusetts bench.[1] In 1998, she was appointed as an associate justice in the Middlesex Probate and Family Court.[5] Dilday retired in June 2009.[7]

She has run mock trials for Chinese law students and taught English in Qiqihar, China.[3]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Smith, Jessie Carney (December 1, 2012). Black Firsts: 4,000 Ground-Breaking and Pioneering Historical Events. Visible Ink Press. p. 593. ISBN 978-1-57859-425-2. Retrieved April 3, 2020.
  2. 1 2 "A History of Diversity at BU Law | School of Law". www.bu.edu. Retrieved December 13, 2018.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Williams, Jacquinn (November 2, 2011). "Icing on the cake". Bay State Banner. Retrieved April 2, 2020.
  4. 1 2 "Judith Nelson Dilday". Martindale-Hubbell. Retrieved April 3, 2020.
  5. 1 2 3 4 "A Tribute to Judge Judith Nelson Dilday and Probation Officer Joseph O'Connor". Boston Bar Association. Retrieved April 3, 2020.
  6. ↑ "Dilday, Judith Nelson". Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority. Retrieved April 2, 2020.
  7. ↑ Bantz, Phillip (May 18, 2011). "Probate Court gets new judge". Massachusetts Lawyer's Weekly. Retrieved April 3, 2020.
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