The Hon. David J. Breen is an associate justice for the Central Division of the Boston Municipal Court in Massachusetts. He was appointed to the bench by former Governor Deval Patrick on October 7, 2014, filling a vacancy created by the retirement of the Hon. Raymond G. Dougan, Jr.
Prior to his appointment, Breen worked as a clinical professor in the Criminal Law Clinic at the Boston University School of Law since 2005. He has taught prosecutorial ethics and has developed the criminal law component for the master’s degree in the Biomedical Forensic Science Program. During his tenure there, he also sat as a special assistant district attorney for the Norfolk County District Attorney’s Office.
Before that, he spent three years as an assistant corporation counsel for the City of Boston Law Department (1999 to 2002), three years as an assistant attorney general in the Criminal Bureau and Fair Practices Bureau of the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office (1996 to 1999), and six years as an assistant district attorney in the New York County District Attorney’s Office (1990 to 1996).
Breen earned a bachelor’s degree from Georgetown University in 1986. He then completed a J.D. at Boston University School of Law (1990) and a master’s degree in public administration from Harvard University (2003). As a law student, Breen sat as editor of the American Journal of Law & Medicine.
His memberships have included the Board of Directors of Fenway Health.
He is a recipient of the Michael A. Tye Leadership Award from Fenway Health, a LGBT healthcare, research, and advocacy organization.
Breen was a resident of Brookline at the time of his appointment.