Hon. Fernande R.V. Duffly

Fernande R.V. Duffly earned a B.A. degree from the University of Connecticut in 1973 and a J.D. from Harvard Law School in 1978. She joined the litigation department of the Boston law firm then known as Warner and Stackpole (now K&L Gates). She is a member of the Board of the National Association of Women Judges and served as NAWJ's President for the term ending November, 2008. She serves as a Delegate to the American Bar Association and is a Commissioner on the ABA's Commission on Women in the Profession. Justice Duffly has served on the Boston Bar Association’s committees on pro se litigation and attorney volunteerism; the Massachusetts Probate and Family Court’s committee on pro se access to the courts; the ABA subcommittee on the representation of children; and the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court's Standing Committee on Substance Abuse.

In 2001, Justice Duffly was part of a delegation of Massachusetts judges hosted by the Supreme People's Court; there she promoted the rule of law in China; recently ABA ROLI sponsored her participation in a conference on Women and the Judiciary, in Kuwait. She has presented educational programs to visiting judges from a host of countries including China, Iraq, the United Kingdom, Egypt and others.

Justice Duffly has received the Distinguished Service Award from the Probate Judge's Association; the Distinguished Jurist Award from the Massachusetts Association of Women Lawyers; and the Trailblazer Award from the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association. She was recognized as a Diversity Hero by Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly, and was named a 2008 Woman of Justice, an award co-sponsored by Lawyers Weekly, the Women's Bar Association and Massachusetts Association of Women Lawyers. She was the 2009 recipient of the Boston Bar Association citation for Judicial Excellence.

Justice Duffly was appointed to the Supreme Judicial Court by Governor Deval Patrick on February 1, 2011. She had previously served on the Probate and Family Court, to which she was appointed by Governor William Weld in 1992, and on the Massachusetts Appeals Court, to which she was appointed by Governor Paul Cellucci in 2000.