User:Brabbley78/sandbox

Tejal R. Mehta is an American Associate Justice of the Concord District Court in Concord, Massachusetts, appointed by Governor Charlie Baker in February 2018 and confirmed by the Governor’s Council in March 2018.

Early life
Tejal R. Mehta was born in Easton, Pennsylvania. Her parents were both born and raised in India, where her father was a cadet in the air force. In the early 1970s, both of her parents emigrated separately from India to Pennsylvania.

In the United States, her father worked as a chemist and a wedding photographer who also photographed indigenous people around the world. Her mother worked as a medical technologist and made her way up the ranks at a hospital and earned a master’s degree in biology.

During her childhood, Mehta’s parents prioritized her academics. Mehta entered the University of Notre Dame in 1993 and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in English in 1997. She then attended the Boston University School of Law where obtained a juris doctorate in 2000. While in law school, Mehta interned at several institutions, including the law firm of Massery & Gillis, the Massachusetts Office of Dispute Resolution, the Superior Court of Massachusetts, as well as a law library aide Boston University. She was admitted to the Massachusetts Bar the following year.

Legal career
Soon after leaving law school, Mehta began clerking for the Suffolk Superior Court in Boston in September 2000. She clerked for Justice Charles Spurlock and Justice Robert Bohn for both civil and criminal sessions, drafting memoranda of law, judicial orders, and jury instructions, until she left the position in August 2001. From September 2001 until July 2002, Mehta worked as a civil litigation associate at the law firm of Gadsby Hannah in Boston. At the firm, she dealt with complex commercial litigation matters, arguing discovery motions, conducting depositions, and drafting memoranda of law.

In July 2002 Mehta joined the law firm of Cohn & Dussi in Woburn as a litigation associate and handled debt collection cases in the District Courts until September 2002. Mehta then joined the law firm of Deutsch Williams Brooks DeRensis & Holland as a civil litigation associate, handling personal injury cases, breaches of contract, and real estate disputes. Additionally, she argued on behalf of the firm’s clients with criminal drug and operating under the influence of alcohol charges in District Courts.

While at Deutsch Williams, Mehta took a hiatus and worked in North Carolina due to her husband’s acceptance to a fellowship program in the region. She joined the Center for Death Penalty Litigation in Durham, North Carolina in August 2004, a center that provides legal representation to death-sentenced inmates and specializes in appellate litigation. She was admitted to the North Carolina Bar that same year.

Mehta returned to Massachusetts and Deutsch Williams in March 2005 and remained there until August 2005 when she joined the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office. There she worked as an Assistant District Attorney, handling criminal misdemeanor and felony prosecutions, arguing before the Juvenile Court, District Court, Superior Court, and Appeals Court.

During her time as an Assistant District Attorney, Mehta was promoted to Deputy District Court Director, supervising the Assistant District Attorneys in the Framingham, MA and Lowell Regions. Later, she was promoted to Superior Court prosecutor, handling serious felonies such as armed robberies, firearms cases, drug trafficking, and adult and child rapes. Additionally, while in the position, she drafted several appellate briefs and successfully argued an appeal before the Massachusetts Appeals Court. She remained working for the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office for eleven years, until she left in May 2016.

In May 2016, Mehta established her own practice, Mehta Law Offices, in Woburn (T. Mehta, Questionnaire for Judicial Nominees). She focused primarily on criminal defense litigation, as well as several civil matters and a single probate case. Her cases involved a wide range of felonies and misdemeanors such as carjacking, drug charges, and civil abuse and harassment prevention orders, representing parties on both sides. Mehta described her typical clients as “indigent, drug-addicted individuals who are facing probation, violations …or drug-related charges”.

Also during this time, Mehta served as a bar advocate for Middlesex Defense Attorneys, Inc., through which she derived cases for her practice.

State district judge
On February 14, 2018, Governor Charlie Baker announced his nomination of Mehta to fill a judgeship in Concord District Court. Her nomination was then sent to the Governor’s Council for advice and consent on the appointment. Baker praised Mehta for her extensive background and experience as both a prosecutor and attorney.

During her a confirmation interview with the Governor’s Council, Mehta was questioned on her judicial philosophy on various aspects of the law. On judicial discretion, she stated that public safety is the primary concern, but that is “essential for a judge to weigh and balance an individual’s personal circumstances” to achieve the goals of rehabilitation, deterrence, “and, when necessary, punishment”. She also emphasized the need for a judge “to be familiar with the local resources” as to “tailor sentences.”

After conducting the interview with Mehta on February 28, the eight-person council voted on March 7 and unanimously confirmed her to the position.

Shortly after her confirmation, Mehta joined the Concord District Court, overseeing lower-level criminal offenses, including misdemeanors, felonies, and violations of city and town ordnances.

In July 2018, Mehta oversaw a case against former ‘Dukes of Hazard’ star Tom Wopat. Wopat was charged with groping two women in the cast of a musical he was starring in. Mehta sentenced the defendant to one year probation, to have no contact with the victims, and to undergo counseling.

Awards and honors
Mehta received the John Droney Award for Exemplary Service in the District Courts while working as an Assistant District Attorney in Middlesex County in 2007. Additionally, she received an “Outstanding Achievement Award” from the South Asian Bar Association of Greater Boston on July 19, 2018.

Publications
While at Deutsch Williams in 2003, Mehta authored articles discussing mediation in transportation disputes that were published in a firm newsletter, a newsletter she had established, formatted, and edited.

In 2017, she authored “Go Solo, You (Probably) Won’t Starve!” for the Boston Bar Association’s Boston Bar Journal, an article reflecting on Mehta’s experiences with her own firm that outlines the practicalities in starting a law firm and encourages others to do so.