Associate Justice of the District Court
Commonwealth of Massachusetts
Writing, teaching, and convening on how courts, counsel, and self-represented litigants meet artificial intelligence without losing the rule of law along the way.
Brockton District Court
215 Main Street
Brockton, Massachusetts 02301
508-587-8000
Questions about artificial intelligence surface in the courtroom before they surface anywhere else: in evidentiary rulings on authenticity, in the competence obligations placed on counsel, and in the filings of self-represented litigants using these tools for the first time. This work follows those questions from the courtroom outward, into legal education, the legal profession, and the design of legal technology.
“On AI, Evidence, and the Limits of Judicial Trust”
Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly
“AI and the Courts”: developing an undergraduate course
Northeastern University
More writing forthcoming.
Brian Palmucci serves as an Associate Justice of the Massachusetts District Court. During the course of his career, he has served as both a state and local prosecutor, managing attorney for a boutique law firm, and a local elected official. Across those roles, he has always worked at the intersection of law, public policy, and government. In his current position he is focused on the practical challenges of administering justice in today’s fast changing technological landscape.
Justice Palmucci presides over a robust docket of both civil and criminal matters in a high-volume trial court. His work requires the application of complex statutes, case law, evidentiary rules, and procedural requirements in real time, often in matters involving competing interests and significant consequences.
As a trial judge, he manages the competing demands of efficiency, fairness, and due process while ensuring that each party has a meaningful opportunity to be heard. He regularly addresses complex legal and evidentiary issues, evaluates the information presented in court, and explains legal principles and procedural requirements to both attorneys and self-represented litigants.
His experience on the bench has given him a practical perspective on the challenges facing modern courts and the importance of maintaining both efficiency and procedural fairness. It has also provided a firsthand understanding of how courts function as institutions and how they must adapt to changing technology, evolving legal practice, and the needs of the public while maintaining the integrity and public trust that are essential to the judicial process.
Justice Palmucci chairs the Massachusetts District Court's Artificial Intelligence Working Group, which examines the opportunities and challenges presented by generative artificial intelligence and its effects on access to justice, court operations, the practice of law, and the administration of justice.
His perspective is grounded in direct courtroom experience. He sees how lawyers and self-represented litigants are incorporating AI into their work, how AI-assisted evidence and algorithmic outputs are presented and challenged in court, and how judges and jurors encounter increasingly sophisticated technology in legal proceedings. His work examines how courts can adapt to these developments while preserving accuracy, procedural integrity, and public trust.
Before joining the bench, Justice Palmucci spent nearly two decades practicing law in civil and criminal matters. He served as a state and local prosecutor and later maintained a private law practice, where he handled complex litigation and business transactions, including the sale of businesses and matters governed by a dense compliance framework. He also advised businesses navigating regulatory uncertainty in an emerging industry, work that included engagement with policymakers as the rules themselves were being written.
He also served seven terms as a City Councilor in a city of over 100,000 people. During his tenure, he worked on legislation and policy involving budgeting, land use, public safety, and municipal government, while working directly with constituents, state and federal partners, and community stakeholders.
Throughout his career, Justice Palmucci has served in leadership and governance roles with for-profit corporations, as well as civic and nonprofit organizations. That board experience has given him a working knowledge of organizational governance, strategic decision-making, regulatory compliance, and public accountability.
He currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Massachusetts Judges Conference, the professional organization representing Massachusetts state court judges. His work with the organization includes legislative policy, emerging technologies, judicial education and exchanges, and issues affecting the operation and security of the courts.
Justice Palmucci is an adjunct professor at Quincy College, where he currently teaches a course on government. He has also mentored attorneys, law clerks, and staff throughout his career and regularly speaks and writes on issues involving law, government, the judiciary, and artificial intelligence.
J.D., New England School of Law (2004) · B.A., UMass Amherst (2000)
linkedin.com/in/example