State's highest court says experience matters and picks somebody with actual legal experience as one of its two clerks; Suffolk County voters next week will pick the other

Supreme Judicial Court Chief Justice Kimberly Budd today swore in Maura Looney as the SJC's Clerk for the Commonwealth, replacing Francis Kenneally, who was appointed a judge in the district-court system earlier this year.

Looney, an attorney, spent 11 years as the court's assistant clerk. Before that she held jobs that included enforcement attorney in the Secretary of State's securities office and assistant district attorney in Middlesex County. The Suffolk University Law School graduate also worked as a law clerk for a justice on the Massachusetts Appeals Court.

The court's other clerk position will be decided in the Democratic primaries on Tuesday when voters just in Suffolk County will select an SJC Clerk for Suffolk County, an office that, despite its name, also deals with statewide issues before the court, such as lawyer discipline and emergency petitions to the court, and which remains an elected office decades, if not centuries, after anybody still remembered why it was elected to begin with.

In that race - there are no Republican candidates - voters will decide between Angela Cartwright, who has been a lawyer for 33 years and who currently oversees a team of 75 public-defender lawyers and Erin Murphy, who says her lack of legal experience is no bar to the job and that she's got plenty of experience as an elementary-school teacher and city councilor.

The Justices of the Supreme Judicial Court have appointed Maura A. Looney as the next Clerk for the Commonwealth. Ms. Looney was sworn in today by Chief Justice Kimberly S. Budd. This appointment fills a vacancy resulting from the departure of Clerk Francis V. Kenneally, who was sworn in as a District Court judge. Ms. Looney has served as Acting Clerk for the Commonwealth since April 1.

The Clerk for the Commonwealth is the head of the public office that manages all aspects of bringing cases before the highest appellate court in the Commonwealth. The office is responsible for handling the Court's appellate caseload, attending sessions of the full court, maintaining the docket, processing filings, and serving as the court's liaison to the parties or their counsel, among other duties.

"The Justices are pleased to announce the appointment of Maura Looney as Supreme Judicial Court Clerk for the Commonwealth," Chief Justice Budd said. "Ms. Looney brings a deep breadth of experience, knowledge of the Court, and technological skills to this role. The Justices are confident that Ms. Looney will continue the good work of her predecessor, Mr. Kenneally, who served the Court with great distinction. The Justices know that Ms. Looney will continue to work with dedication, skill and enthusiasm to support the Court and its users."

Ms. Looney has served as Assistant Clerk and Special Assistant Clerk of the Commonwealth for 11 years. Prior to her appointment to the Court, she was an Assistant Vice President at the Boston Stock Exchange and then an Associate Vice President at NASDAQ OMX, where she directed modifications to the Regulatory and Enforcement programs. Before that, she was an enforcement attorney in the Securities Division of the Office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth, investigating matters involving potential violations of the Massachusetts Securities Act and regulations. She served as an Assistant District Attorney in Middlesex County from 1998 to 2000, and before that worked as a law clerk for Massachusetts Appeals Court Associate Justice Charlotte Anne Perretta. Ms. Looney is a graduate of Boston College and Suffolk University Law School.