Charlotte Anne Perretta (1942April 10, 2015) was the first woman to sit on the

Massachusetts Appeals Court The Massachusetts Appeals Court is the intermediate appellate court of Massachusetts. It was created in 1972 as a court of general appellate jurisdiction. The court is located at the John Adams Courthouse at Pemberton Square in Boston, the ...

Early life and education

Perretta was born in 1942 and grew up in

Hartford, Connecticut Hartford is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The city, located in Hartford County, Connecticut, Hartford County, had a population of 121,054 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 ce ...

, to Lois ( Gubtil) and Armando Perretta, a homemaker and restaurateur. She had two brothers, Mike and James. Perretta attended Mount St. Joseph Academy before receiving a bachelor's degree from the College of St. Elizabeth in 1964 and a law degree from

Suffolk University Law School Suffolk University Law School (also known as Suffolk Law School) is the Private university, private, non-sectarian law school of Suffolk University located in Downtown Boston, downtown Boston, across the street from the Boston Common and the Fr ...

in 1967.

Legal career

Early in her career, Perretta represented indigent clients with the Massachusetts Defenders Committee on post-conviction matters. She then joined the firm of Crane, Inker & Oteri where she argued cases before the

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) is the highest court in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Although the claim is disputed by the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, the SJC claims the distinction of being the oldest continuously fu ...

and the Appeals Court, which had recently been created. She co-founded her own firm in the mid-1980s, Keating, Perretta & Pierce, before practicing with Ronald Wysocki. She worked in both state and federal courts and as an assistant in the Middlesex County District Attorney's office. In 1978, then-Governor Michael S. Dukakis appointed her to the Appeals Court, the first woman to hold that post. She took the oath of office on December 21, 1978, becoming the second youngest appeals court justice ever. Her portrait hangs in the main courtroom, facing the justice sitting on the bench. When she retired on October 2, 2009, she was the senior associate justice on the court and had authored over 1,700 opinions.

Personal life

Perretta was the commencement speaker at

Endicott College Endicott College is a private college in Beverly, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1939 as a Junior college, two-year women's college. It began offering four-year degrees in 1988 and became coeducational in 1994. Endicott approximately studen ...

in 1982. She lived in Boston. In 1984, she received an honorary doctorate from

New England School of Law New England Law Boston (formerly New England School of Law, and styled as New England Law Boston) is a private law school in Boston, Massachusetts. It was founded as Portia School of Law in 1908 and is located in downtown Boston near the Massa ...

, where she taught trial practice for many years as an adjunct faculty member. She died April 10, 2015, at the age of 72 in

Wallingford, Connecticut Wallingford is a town in New Haven County, Connecticut, New Haven County, Connecticut, United States, centrally located between New Haven, Connecticut, New Haven and Hartford, Connecticut, Hartford, and Boston and New York City. The town is part ...

. Her funeral mass was said at Corpus Christi Church in

Wethersfield, Connecticut Wethersfield ( ) is a town located in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States. It is located immediately south of Hartford along the Connecticut River. The town is part of the Capitol Planning Region. The population was 27,298 at the time ...

. Perretta was buried in Mt St Benedict Cemetery in

Bloomfield, Connecticut Bloomfield is a suburb of Hartford in the Capitol Planning Region, Connecticut, United States. The town's population was 21,535 at the 2020 census, Bloomfield's highest decennial census count ever. Bloomfield is best known as the headquarters of ...

References

{{reflist, refs= {{Cite web, url=https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2015/04/13/charlotte-anne-perretta-first-woman-serve-state-appeals-court/C9Y0xAAUIVr5EYivJHm9iI/story.html, title=Charlotte Anne Perretta, 72, first woman to serve on state Appeals Court - The Boston Globe, last=Marquard, first=Bryan, newspaper = The Boston Globe , access-date=April 13, 2020 {{cite web , url = https://www.mass.gov/service-details/associate-justice-charlotte-anne-perretta , title = Associate Justice Charlotte Anne Perretta , publisher =

Commonwealth of Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

, accessdate = April 13, 2020 {{cite web , url = https://www.mass.gov/person/charlotte-anne-perretta , title = Charlotte Anne Perretta , publisher =

, accessdate = April 13, 2020 {{cite news , url = https://bostonglobe.newspapers.com/clip/48658360/obituary-of-charlotte-anne-perretta/ , title = PERRETTA, Charlotte Anne , newspaper = The Boston Globe , date = April 19, 2015 , page = B9 , via = Newspapers.com {{cite news , url = https://bostonglobe.newspapers.com/clip/48659101/dukakis-ready-to-name-4-as-appeals/ , title = Dukakis ready to name 4 as appeals judges , newspaper = The Boston Globe , page = 24 , date = November 15, 1978 , via = Newspapers.com {{Cite news , url = https://thesuffolkjournal.com/29055/news/suffolk-firsts-womens-history-month/ , title = Suffolk Firsts: Women's History Month , first = Emily , last = Devlin , date = March 7, 2020 , publisher = The Suffolk Journal , accessdate = April 13, 2020 Lawyers from Hartford, Connecticut Lawyers from Boston category:American women judges Suffolk University Law School alumni Bloomfield, Connecticut New England Law Boston faculty Saint Elizabeth University alumni

Early life and education

Legal career

Personal life

See also

References