Friday January 4, 2013

PITTSFIELD -- Gov. Deval L. Patrick today re-nominated Pittsfield attorney Michael J. McCarthy as the next judge of Southern Berkshire District Court in Great Barrington.

Patrick nominated McCarthy last August, but the Governor Council split over his confirmation in September. Several councilors said they weren't pleased with his answers to their questions. The Governor's Council must confirm all judicial nominations.

"I am pleased to re-nominate Michael J. McCarthy to serve on the bench in Berkshire County," Patrick said in a statement.

McCarthy has been with the law firm of George, DeGregorio, Massimiano & McCarthy in Pittsfield since 1989. He maintains a general practice with a concentration in civil litigation.

Prior to that, McCarthy served two years as Pittsfield's solicitor, five years as a Berkshire County assistant district attorney, and one year as an assistant district attorney in Portland, Maine.

He graduated from Assumption College in 1978 and the University of Maine Law School in 1981.

McCarthy would fill the vacancy created by judge James B. McElroy's retirement.

Fredric D. Rutberg, the district court judge in Pittsfield, has been serving as an acting judge for the Southern Berkshire District Court.

Patrick also nominated outgoing state Public Safety Secretary Mary Elizabeth Heffernan of West Roxbury as a district court circuit justice. The governor also resubmitted four pending judicial

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nominations to the new Governor's Council that was sworn in Thursday: Geraldine S. Hines as an associate justice of the Appeals Court, and Angel Kelly Brown, Brian A. Davis, and Robert B. Gordon as associate justices of the Superior Court. The nominees also are being resubmitted because the Governor Council's term ended before they were considered.