I am extremely sad to report to you that Judge Paul McManus, longtime former CPCS public defender, passed away peacefully on May 6, 2018 after a courageous battle with cancer.
Paul spent his life passionately fighting for equal justice. Paul began his career with CPCS in 1987 as a public defender with CPCS in Worcester. He transferred to the Boston Trial Unit in 1993. In 2001, he joined the Criminal Defense Training Unit for a two year rotation followed by a two year rotation in the Appeals Unit. After the Appeals rotation, Paul went to the Brockton Superior Court for eighteen months to supervise a group of new attorneys. He became the Attorney-in-Charge of the Framingham District Court office in 2008 where he remained until becoming a Boston Municipal Court judge in 2015.
Paul also spent many years teaching lawyers in training the fine art of advocacy. He taught trial advocacy as an Adjunct Professor at Boston College Law School for eighteen years. In 1999, he and Cathy Bennett were the coaches for the BC Law School National Mock Trial team which won the New England Regional Mock Trial Competition.
Paul was a brilliant trial lawyer who treated his clients with dignity and respect. He was a leader, a teacher and a mentor to countless trial attorneys during his time at CPCS. Most of all, Paul was a wonderful human being who was warm and genuine, and always laughing and smiling. Paul made everyone around him feel better. We have lost a champion.
A great article about Paul in the Boston Globe can be found here.
