Judge Connor M. Barsuch

Judge Connor M. Barusch — the first judge in Massachusetts history to identify openly as transgender and nonbinary — estimates their trailblazing path to a seat on the Boston Municipal Court took nearly two years of navigating applications and meetings — all of which they felt was worthwhile to help diversify the bench.

The process, governed by the state's Judicial Nominating Commission, requires potential judges to answer a battery of questions — including describing the significant legal cases they've worked on, their roles in cases, and whether they've engaged in lobbying efforts at any point, according to an online version of the application.

Starting in 2023 while still a public defender, Judge Barusch developed multiple drafts of their application and sat through several rounds of interviews with the JNC and then the chief legal counsel to the Massachusetts Governor. Finally, Judge Barusch met with Gov. Maura Healey to discuss their nomination and was ultimately nominated in December 2024. Their swearing-in was in February.

As a public defender, Judge Barusch spent almost 15 years in courtrooms at defense tables in Massachusetts where they worked for the Committee for Public Counsel Services, a public defender group, on a variety of criminal matters and serving a diverse set of clients.

In the last eight months, Judge Barusch has served as one of only a handful of openly transgender jurists in state courts across the country. No person serving on a federal bench has openly identified as transgender or nonbinary.

Law360 spoke with Judge Barusch about how they view their role in the courts as an openly transgender jurist, as well as their best advice on how attorneys can interact with trans and nonbinary people in the courtroom.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

What was your reaction when you found out that you'd been appointed as a judge of the Boston Municipal Court?

Even though the process is long and very competitive, when I actually got the call that the governor was actually going to meet with me, and it looked like I had a good chance of being nominated, I was surprised and pretty excited. It's just a really good opportunity to give back in some of the ways that certainly I was familiar with as a lawyer but also to be able to get involved in justice in the community, so it's pretty exciting.

How do you see your experience as a lawyer fitting into that?

So right after law school I clerked for an appellate judge — and then I spent one year doing family law — but the bulk of my career had all been in public defense at a variety of levels. So by the time I was appointed to the bench, I was primarily doing serious felony work — which in Massachusetts we call Superior Court work — so now I've been appointed to the bench in the Boston Municipal Court.

Criminal law is something I've been extremely familiar with, and part of the exciting thing about being a judge is I haven't had a civil practice since clerking as a law clerk and practicing family law. So one of the exciting things is getting to learn and beef up on my civil knowledge, which was not as much of my practice as criminal practice was.

And so the judge who I clerked for, who was Fernande Duffly, who was really pretty amazing in her own right, one of the things that she taught me — and she believed it based on studies — was how important it was for a diverse group of judges to be making decisions. And there is research behind the idea that when judges work in a group that is a diverse group, all of the judges make better decisions.

Obviously, everyone is excited to have a bench that is as representative as possible, just because of the importance that shows for the community, but also I think for everyone it's better to have all kinds of diverse groups making decisions in the community.

Is there a specific way in which you feel your identity impacts your day-to-day work or cases that you hear?

I don't think being trans and nonbinary has any real effect on how I make decisions or what decision I make on a daily basis. I'm sure there are litigants in my courtroom who have trans and nonbinary people in their family, or they are trans and nonbinary themselves. I'm sure it makes a difference for them to see people who reflect their community in a decision-making capacity.

It doesn't have a big impact except that I think my experience as a trans and nonbinary person has helped me become a better listener and maybe able to empathize or have some understanding of people who are pretty different from me in a variety of different ways. So I think there are skills I got from the process of spending a lot of time around people who are different from me or who have not gotten the chance to know trans or nonbinary people before.

Do you have any practical advice for attorneys who maybe aren't trans or nonbinary but who either chose to, or are appointed to represent, trans and nonbinary clients?

I guess I think that courtesy and respect doesn't cost anyone anything. Both sides, whether they are on the side of representing a trans person or are on the side of the prosecutor who is representing an alleged victim in the case. You can disagree with someone without being demeaning or insulting, and I think when people are demeaning or insulting it says something about that person, and it doesn't help their cause.

As a public defender, I would have cases where my client was trans and cases where the alleged victim was trans, and in either case it was my practice to show respect to that person in whatever way that was required — whether it was using appropriate names or pronouns or not using offensive language and terminology.

--Editing by Amy French.

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