Hon. Edward J. McDonough Jr.

Positions:
Trial Lawyer, Egan Flanagan and Cohen, PC
Justice of the Massachusetts Superior Court (2013-2017; 2020-2025)
Justice of the Massachusetts Appeals Court (2017-2020)

Born in Worcester and raised in Springfield, former Justice McDonough has returned to his prior trial practice at Egan Flanagan and Cohen, PC, Springfield, Massachusetts, where in 2004, he had been admitted to Fellowship. He is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, earning his Juris Doctor from Western New England College School of Law in 1981, graduating magna cum laude, and qualifying for its Law Review. He clerked with the Springfield law firm, Egan, Flanagan & Cohen, P.C., and continued there as an associate and full partner, serving three terms as its Managing Partner. His diverse trial practice has included representing both plaintiffs and defendants in claims for wrongful death, civil rights, general liability, prisoner rights, employment discrimination, insurance law, and medical malpractice. He was lead or sole trial counsel in over sixty trials throughout the Commonwealth including the Massachusetts Superior Court, United States District Court, and the Court of Federal Claims. He also served as appellate counsel in the Massachusetts Appeals Court and Supreme Judicial Court, the First Circuit Court of Appeals, and the Supreme Court of the United States.

In 2013, Governor Deval Patrick appointed McDonough to the Massachusetts Superior Court, presiding over criminal felony and major civil jury trial, and as Regional Administrative Justice for all of Western Massachusetts, and to Superior Court Committees on Implicit Racial Bias, Public Outreach, Civil Rules, Technology, Attorney Conducted Panel Voir Dire Pilot Project, and plain-language Jury Instructions. In 2017, Governor Charles Baker appointed McDonough to the Massachusetts Appeals Court; on McDonough’s reapplication, Governor Baker reappointed him to the Massachusetts Superior Court on August 2, 2020, following his service on the Appeals Court, until McDonough’s return to his trial practice. Following his 2004 admission to Fellowship, he continued as a Judicial Fellow of the College until his return to private practice.