List of first minority male lawyers and judges in Massachusetts

Firsts in state history

Law Degree

• George Lewis Ruffin : First African American male to graduate with a law degree in Massachusetts

  Lawyers

• Macon Bolling Allen : First African American male lawyer in Massachusetts
• Harry Dow : First Chinese American male lawyer in Massachusetts

  Judicial Officers

State

Justice of the Peace

• Macon Bolling Allen : First African American male to serve as a Justice of the Peace in Massachusetts

  Judges

• George Lewis Ruffin : First African American male judge in Massachusetts
• Charles A. Grabau : First Hispanic American male judge in Massachusetts
• Richard J. Chin : First Asian American judge in Massachusetts
• Dermot Meagher: First openly LGBT male judge in Massachusetts

  Superior Court

• Edward Gourdin: First African American male to become a superior court judge in Massachusetts
• Raffi Yessayan: First Armenian American male to serve as a Judge of the Massachusetts Superior Court

  District Court

• Elwood S. McKenney: First African American male to serve as a Presiding Judge of a district court in Massachusetts

  Supreme Court

• Roderick L. Ireland : First African American male appointed as a Justice and Chief Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Court

  Attorney General

• Edward Brooke : First African American male to serve as the Attorney General of Massachusetts

  Assistant Attorney General

• David S. Nelson: First African American male to serve as the Assistant Attorney General for Massachusetts

  Bar Association

• Wayne Budd: First African American male to serve as the President of the Massachusetts Bar Association
• Mark Mason: First openly LGBT male to serve as the President of the Massachusetts Bar Association
• Robert Harnais: First Hispanic American male to become President of the Massachusetts Bar Association

  Firsts in local history

Middlesex County

• George Lewis Ruffin : First African American male to earn a law degree from Harvard University
• John Ward: First openly LGBT male lawyer in Boston, Massachusetts
• Ronald S. Sullivan, Jr. : First African American male to serve as a faculty dean at Harvard University
• Ralph C. Martin, Jr.: First African American male to serve as the District Attorney for Middlesex County, Massachusetts

  Suffolk County

• Takeo Kikuchi : First Japanese male to graduate from the Boston University School of Law. He would later co-found Chuo University in Tokyo, Japan.
• Emanuel Hewlett : First African American male to graduate from the Boston University School of Law
• Harry Elam : First African American male appointed as a Judge of the Boston Municipal Court

  Other topics of interest

• List of first women lawyers and judges in the United States
• List of first women lawyers and judges in Massachusetts