December 11, 1999

By Rob Colenso Jr.

Berkshire Eagle Staff

WILLIAMSTOWN -- As her three young children looked on, Judith A. Locke was sworn in as an associate justice of the Juvenile Court yesterday by Lt. Gov. Jane M. Swift.

Locke took her oath before a host of family and friends in a standing-room-only ceremony yesterday afternoon at the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute.

Swift said the Juvenile Court's newest associate justice will be a "fair, but compassionate jurist" in what the Cellucci administration regards as the commonwealth's most important court. The position, which carries a salary of $109,492 a year, will have Locke traveling to hear the cases of underage defendants throughout Berkshire, Hampden, Hampshire and Franklin counties.

Exhausting duties. The court is probably the most exhausting -- mentally, physically and emotionally -- of all the judgeships in the state. But those who spoke at yesterday's ceremony said it is a duty for which Locke was quite possibly born to do.

The 44-year-old Williamstown resident has spent the majority of her 13 years in law working with children and advocating on their behalf in countless care-and-protection cases. She served as western regional counsel for the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children from 1989 until becoming assistant regional counsel for the Department of Social Services in 1991.

As legal counsel for DSS, Locke handled cases throughout the trial, probate and juvenile courts in Berkshire, Hampden, Hampshire and Franklin counties.

She began her law career flying solo in a North Adams-based private practice, working even then on behalf of children and families. She started her meteoric rise to associate justice as a prosecutor with the Berkshire County District Attorney's office in 1987, leaving after two years to serve with the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Children.

Berkshire County District Attorney Gerard D. Downing, who first met Locke during her time as an assistant district attorney, said that while the challenges of the Juvenile Court are great, she is more than qualified to handle the burden.

"I'm proud to call her an [alumna] of the Berkshire County District Attorney's office," he said in his remarks yesterday. "I can think of no more difficult position than to be a justice of the Juvenile Court."

Southern Berkshire District Court First Justice James B. McElroy also spoke during the ceremony and recalled his days of hearing child welfare cases in his chambers in the years before the creation of the Juvenile Court system.

His background was one steeped in town administration law, rather than child care and protection situations, and he said he was overwhelmed when he first started presiding over such cases. But, he noted, Locke often tried such cases before him, and her enthusiasm and passion for such casework was without equal.

"Whether she knew it or not, Jude was my secret mentor," he said of the first few child care and protection cases over which he presided. "Every case in which Jude appeared before me was, for me, a mini-seminar. "

He added, "I suspect I am not alone on the bench in harboring that little secret."

'Celebrating children' Downing added that the swearing-in ceremony was not only a celebration of Locke's success, but also a celebration of children and the good works of the Juvenile Court. "It is there we take those damaged children ... and we try to find solutions," he said. "I would suggest today that what we are celebrating is children." McElroy agreed, saying the Juvenile Court system requires that an associate justice make "excruciatingly difficult decisions upon which the future welfare of these children rest."

Locke's passion for children became apparent during the ceremony yesterday. During remarks from Martha P. Grace, chief justice of the Juvenile Court, Locke's two younger children -- 2-year-old Keenan and 4-year-old Katherine -- got a little restless and wanted to leave the front row and sit with their mother on stage. Locke's husband, local attorney David Chenail and their 10-year-old son, Liam, were also down front with more than a dozen of her family members and friends.

While some mothers might have asked Dad or other family members to handle the situation, Locke instead stepped to the front of the stage and asked the two to come and sit with her -- a gesture that seemed to tug at the heartstrings of many in the audience yesterday. After Locke was sworn in by Swift, the humble remarks she offered weren't about her own accomplishments, but instead focused on the contributions of her family. She also spoke of her hopes of continuing to help children, citing a phrase by one speaker that has stuck with her through the years: "Repair the universe." It is a lofty goal, she said, but one that is close to her heart.

"If I take care of one acre or one small inch of it, that'll be my legacy," she said, adding that "The Juvenile Court is our last great hope for the next generation."