Maria Lopez

Areas of Expertise

Law; Media; Cuba

Email: mlopez@brandeis.edu

Current Project

Maria will be working on a memoir/legal commentary of her judicial career.

Biography

Born in Havana, Cuba Maria I. Lopez came to this country with her family in 1961 fleeing the Cuban revolution. In 1988, she became the first Latina appointed a judge in the Massachusetts Trial Court system. During her fifteen years on the bench, she handled a number of high profile cases and earned a reputation as a fiercely independent, liberal judge. At age 50, her last child leaving for college, she resigned from the bench in the midst of controversy.

Maria practiced law for ten years before becoming a judge. Her entire legal career was in public service, working for Legal Services, as an Assistant Attorney General in the Civil Rights Division for the Massachusetts Attorney General as Counsel to the Massachusetts Office of Refugees and Immigrants.

In the course of her legal/judicial career, she was involved in numerous educational and civic activities, including six years as an adjunct professor of trial advocacy at Boston University Law School and founding member of the George Lewis Ruffin Society, an organization dedicated to creating an understanding between law enforcement and the minority community.

In the fall of 2006 Maria will preside on Judge Maria Lopez, a nationally syndicated television show.

Education

J.D., Boston University

B.A., Smith College

Representative Publications

In progress.

Links

Judge Maria Lopez