Judge Chernoff leads BHPK Law’s Alternative Dispute Resolution program in an “of counsel” capacity.  As a former justice in the Commonwealth’s Superior and District Court Departments of the Trial Court, he has nearly forty years of experience resolving legal disputes. Over the years, he has presided over more than one thousand jury trials and sat as a Superior Court judge in every county and in the vast majority of the district courthouses. He has been mediating, conciliating, and arbitrating disputes for BHPK since 2014. He also serves as the Superior Court’s judicial mediator in Norfolk and Middlesex Counties on pro bono court appointments where at least one party is of limited means.

Judge Chernoff brings a wealth of experience and knowledge to BHPK’s ADR practice. Appointed to the judiciary in 1976, Judge Chernoff was then the youngest justice in the Commonwealth at age 37. Recently presiding over a summary jury trial for the Superior Court, he sat as the most senior judge in the entire Massachusetts judiciary. Parties routinely praise Judge Chernoff for his compassionate yet practical approach to achieving equitable case resolutions.

Prior to joining BHPK in 2014, Judge Chernoff first served as a judge of the Newton District Court for eight years before he was appointed as a justice of the Superior Court, serving for three decades. He retired from the bench after two periods of recall and after he served as a Special Judicial Magistrate on the so-called “drug laboratory cases,” where he heard motions to withdraw guilty pleas or for new trials in hundreds of criminal cases that were affected by the misconduct of two Massachusetts drug chemists featured in the Netflix documentary “How to Fix a Drug Scandal.”

Presently, Judge Chernoff presides over mediations, conciliations, and arbitration disputes. As a convenience to counsel and the parties, he offers to travel to other locations within the Commonwealth when necessary to accommodate his clients. Judge Chernoff is extremely devoted to his ADR practice and often goes above and beyond to assist the parties in reaching a resolution; for example, he visits the scene of every dispute where feasible at no expense to the parties. His value as a neutral is grounded in decades of work as a judge, where he conferenced cases on a daily basis and learned about the art of effecting a just compromise.

For years, Judge Chernoff led the Judicial Outward Bound Program, leading groups of judges and their significant others on many multi-day backpacking trips in Western National Parks including Yellowstone, Glacier, Yosemite, Canyonlands, Arches, Capitol Reef, Grand Gulch, Escalante, and Grand Canyon as well as river trips on the Colorado River and the Upper Missouri River.

Publications

• Author, Bench Notes I, II, & III, A Judge’s Reflections for his Grandchildren (2012, 2014, 2016)
• Judicial Editor & Contributor, MCLE Civil Practice Manual (1990-2008)
• Contributing Author, MCLE Criminal Practice Manual 1990-2008)
• Author, “Picturing the Rule of Law, Public Exhibits for the Superior Court’s 150th Anniversary,” 90 Mass. Law Rev. No. 3, p. 153 (Dec. 2009)
• Author, “Impatient Millionaires,” 52 Boston Bar Journal No. 1 (Jan/Feb 2008)
• Author, “Judges and the Media Communication, Communication, Communication,” No. 48 Boston Bar Journal No. 4 (September/October 2004)
• Author, “Kiomizudera,” 34 Boston Bar Journal No. 2 (March/April 1990)

Teaching & Training Positions

• Boston College Law School, Adjunct Faculty (1986-present)
• MCLE Trial Advocacy (1986-present)
• Flaschner Judicial Institute (1985-present)
• Massachusetts Judicial Institute (2000-present)
• MCLE Driect & Cross-examination program (2014-present)
• MCLE Conciliation Pogram (2014-present)
• Massachusetts Bar Association, Practicing Professionalism Program (2014 to present)
• National Judicial College, faculty in criminal procedure, sentencing, search and seizure, and scientific and expert evidence (1980 to 2008)
• Massachusetts Judicial Institute (2000-present)

Honors and Awards

• Massachusetts Judges Conference, Judicial Excellence Award for a Retired Judge (2019)
• Massachusetts Academy of Trial Attorneys Judicial Excellence Award (2018)
• Massachusetts Bar Association volunteer Recognition Award (2018)
• Massachusetts Association of Trial Attorneys, Award for Judicial Excellence (2012)
• MCLE, Distinguished Faculty Award (2012)
• Greater Lowell Bar Association, “Paul A. Chernoff Servant of Justice Award” (given annually to an Association member) (2009)
• Boston Bar Association, Haskell Cohn Distinguished Judicial Service Award (2008)
• Norfolk County Sheriff’s Citation (2008)
• Lowell Bar Association Paul A. Chernoff Servant of Justice Award (2008 to Judge Chernoff and then bestowed bi-annually to a member of the Lowell Bar Association)
• Norfolk County Bar Association – Judicial Award (2006)
• Tufts University, Career Achievement Award (2004)
• Norfolk Bar Association, Person of the Year Award
• Lowell Bar Association Brian Dunigan Lifetime Achievement Award (1997)
• Massachusetts Academy of Trial Attorneys Judicial Award (1996)
• National Judicial College special Recognition (1994)
• Norfolk County Commissioners – Citation for championing the historical significance of the Norfolk Superior Courthouse (1994)
• Crime and Justice foundation Henry Mascarello Award of Excellence (1986)
• Middlesex County Bar Association Citizenship Law Day Award (1984)
• National Judicial College Special Recognition (1983)