Hon. Leila Kern

Judge Leila Kern was an Associate Justice of the Superior Court from October 1999 until March 2012, when she retired from the bench. She presided over civil and criminal cases.

Judge Kern received her J.D. from Harvard Law School in 1984. She also holds a Ph.D. in Psychology from Columbia University which she received in 1967 and a bachelor’s degree from Barnard College which she received in l962. Prior to attending law school, Judge Kern taught and did research in the psychology departments at Florida State University in Tallahassee, FL and Northeastern University in Boston, MA. After law school, Judge Kern was an associate at Hale and Dorr, an Assistant United States Attorney in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Boston, and a founding partner of Kern, Sosman, Hagerty, Roach and Carpenter, P.C., a litigation boutique.

As an Access to Justice Fellow, Judge Kern will be working with REACH Beyond Domestic Violence where she currently serves as Vice Chair of the Board. REACH’s mission is to advance the safety, healing, and empowerment of those who experience domestic or relationship violence. They provide direct services to victims as well as education in a variety of settings promoting social justice for individuals and families of all backgrounds. Judge Kern will be working with REACH to design and implement an enlarged volunteer court advocates program with the goal of expanding the pool with law students and volunteer attorneys assisting survivors at each step of the process from filling out affidavits to appearing before the judge to seek relief.