The Hon. Benjamin C. Barnes is First Justice of the Edgartown District Court in Massachusetts. He was appointed to the bench by former Governor Deval Patrick in 2009.
Over the course of his judicial career, Barnes has held assignments on the Malden District Court. He served in this capacity until his transfer to the Edgartown District Court in 2019.
Barnes earned a bachelor’s degree from Fisk University in 1986. He then completed a J.D. at Suffolk University Law School in 1990.
After graduating from law school, Barnes moved to Los Angeles, California. He worked as an associate at Mallory & Brown-Curtis until 1994, at which time he returned to Massachusetts and joined the Middlesex County District Attorney’s Office as an assistant district attorney.
In 1995, Barnes left the District Attorney’s Office. He was selected to sit as Chair of the City of Cambridge License Commission. He spent the next nine years there, eventually leaving to become the Clerk-Magistrate for the Palmer District Court in 2004.