Baker Announces Two Judicial Nominations

Thursday, March 16, 2017

GoLocalWorcester News Team

Joseph M. Ditkoff

Governor Charlie Baker announced two judicial nominations on Wednesday. He nominated Joseph M. Ditkoff as an Associate Justice of the Appeals Court, and Kelli Ryan DiLisio as an Associate Justice of the Juvenile Court.

“The decades of experience in public service that Joseph Ditkoff and Kelli DiLisio will bring to the respective courts and the people of the Commonwealth make them exceptional candidates. Both are smart and thoughtful individuals and I look forward to the Governor’s Council’s consideration of their nominations for these important appointments,” said Baker.

Ditkoff is nominated for the seat vacated by The Honorable Cynthia J. Cohen on the Appeals Court, and DiLisio for the seat vacated by The Honorable Daniel J. Swords on the Juvenile Court.

Joseph M. Ditkoff

For the last three years, Ditkoff has served as General Counsel of the District Court advising the Chief Justice, Justices, and Clerks on complex legal and ethical issues, legal developments, legislation, and opioid and other substance use disorder issues. Prior to that, Ditkoff worked in the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office as Deputy Legal Counsel to the District Attorney and as an Assistant District Attorney.

He began his career as a Judicial Law Clerk for the Honorable Jerry E. Smith of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in Houston, Texas and then from 1998 to 1999 as Litigation Chairman in the Office of Independent Counsel in Washington, DC. Ditkoff is an Editor and Case Summary Contributor for the Massachusetts Law Review and an elected town meeting member in Brookline.

He graduated from Yale College cum laude in 1993 and magna cum laude from Harvard Law School in 1996.

Kelli Ryan DiLisio

Kelli DiLisio currently serves as First Assistant Clerk-Magistrate for the Franklin/Hampshire Juvenile Court assisting in the management of the court that serves two counties and four sites. From 1997 to 2013 she served as Assistant Clerk-Magistrate it that court.

DiLisio began her career serving as an Assistant District Attorney in the Hampden County District Attorney’s Office in Springfield, MA then as Supervising Trial Attorney in the District Court, and Supervisor of the Grand Jury and Intake and Screening Unit from 1986 to 1997. She is a member of the Juvenile Court Mass Courts Committee and the Child Welfare Rules Committee.

She graduated from Mount Holyoke College in 1983 and Western New England College School of Law in 1986.