October 25, 2006

GOVERNOR ROMNEY NOMINATES FOUR TO JUDICIARY

Three minority women among the nominees

Governor Mitt Romney today nominated four individuals to serve in the Massachusetts Trial Court: Stacey Fortes-White was nominated to the Peabody District Court; Sabita Singh to the District Court (Circuit); Eleanor Sinnot to the Boston Municipal Court; and Harry Grossman to a newly created seat on the Land Court. The nominations must be approved by a vote of the eight-member Governor’s Council.

“These four nominees are each highly qualified with a demonstrated commitment to public service,” said Romney. “I am particularly pleased that three of today’s four nominees are minority women because of the special effort we have made to increase diversity on the bench.”

Fortes-White, of Winchester, is currently Chief of District Courts in the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office. She has held this position since 2002. A former Suffolk County Assistant District Attorney, she formerly served as a labor relations representative with the MBTA. Since 2003, Fortes-White has represented the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office in the Boston Lawyer’s Group, which seeks to build a more diverse legal community. She is a graduate of American University and Suffolk University Law School.

Singh, of Somerville, is currently Special Counsel for Criminal Rights Enforcement in the Office of the U.S. Attorney in Boston. Formerly, she was an attorney specializing in white collar criminal defense and business regulation at the law firm Bingham McCutchen LLP. As an Assistant District Attorney in the Middlesex County District Attorney’s Office, she successfully represented the Commonwealth in high profile criminal cases. A former president of the South Asian Bar Association of Greater Boston, Singh has lectured extensively on legal matters at colleges and universities around Boston. She is a graduate of Pennsylvania State University and Boston University School of Law.

Sinnott, of Charlestown, is currently Chief Legal Counsel for the Massachusetts State Police and has held that position since 1997. She is a former Deputy General Counsel for the Massachusetts Executive Office of Public Safety and also served as an Assistant Attorney General. Since 2004, Sinnott has developed and taught legal training courses that have become part of State Police recruit training. She is currently developing a statewide training program with the Department of Public Health to assist with legal matters surrounding pandemic and other health issues. Sinnott is a graduate of Williams College and Boston College Law School.

Grossman, of Marblehead, has been the General Counsel for the Massachusetts Executive Office for Administration and Finance since 2000. He has served both Republican and Democratic governors. From 1980 to 2000, he worked at the Massachusetts Department of Revenue, where he was General Counsel and First Deputy Commissioner. Prior to working in state government, he was an attorney at the Boston law firms Brown, Rudnick and Curhan & Curhan. From 1991 to 2003, Grossman was an adjunct faculty member in the Business Law Department at Suffolk University’s Sawyer School of Management. He is a graduate of Tufts University and the Boston University School of Law.