Hon. Karyn F. Scheier

The Hon. Karyn F. Scheier (Ret.) served on the Land Court from 1994 to 2018, during which time she was the court’s Chief Justice for two terms. Her career with the Land Court began in 1980, when she started her legal career as a law clerk to the Hon. John E. Fenton, Jr. While a judge on the court, Judge Scheier co-chaired the Trial Court’s Committee on Gender Equality and was a member of the Supreme Judicial Court’s Committee to Study the Massachusetts Code of Judicial Conduct which proposed a revised Code adopted by the SJC in 2016.

Judge Scheier is a graduate of Simmons College and New England School of Law, where she taught legal methods and writing for several years. Judge Scheier practiced land use and real estate law as a partner with the firm of Hutchins and Wheeler and later as a solo practitioner before her appointment to the Land Court. During her years in private practice, she was involved in several non-profit organizations, serving on the boards of the Weston Land Trust, Land’s Sake, Inc., the Weston-METCO Scholarship Fund, and Greater Boston Legal Services.

In 2005, Judge Scheier received an honorary degree from New England School of Law and the Distinguished Jurist Award from the Mass. Association of Women Lawyers. Her judicial service was recognized by the Mass. Judges Conference, and the Boston Bar Association, which awarded her the Haskell Cohn Award for Distinguished Judicial Service in 2012. Judge Scheier received the Real Estate Bar Association’s highest honor, the Richard B. Johnson Award, in 2015.

Since 2002, Judge Scheier has been involved with Hearth, Inc., which provides supportive services and permanent housing for at-risk and homeless elders. She is currently a board member and clerk. She will continue her work with Hearth, Inc. as an Access to Justice Fellow.