Chief Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Margaret H. Marshall, will address the Northeastern University School of Law graduates at commencement exercises in Matthews Arena, 238 St. Botolph Street, Boston, on Friday, May 23, at 1 p.m. Marshall will also receive an honorary degree. Barry C. Scheck and Peter J. Neufeld, cofounders and codirectors of the Innocence Project, a non-profit legal clinic at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, will also earn honorary degrees during commencement exercises.

Marshall is the second woman to serve on the Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) in its 310-year history and the first woman to serve as chief justice. Established in 1692, the Supreme Judicial Court is the oldest court in continuous service in the United States, operating under the oldest, still functioning written constitution anywhere.

Prior to her appointment to the SJC, Marshall was vice president and general counsel of Harvard University, where she was responsible for all legal and regulatory affairs of Harvard and all of its affiliated institutions. At Harvard, she also served as a member of the President's Academic Council.

Marshall, who is from South Africa, earned her law degree from Yale Law School in 1976 and a master's degree from Harvard University in 1969. She earned her undergraduate degree at Witwatersrand University in Johannesburg.

Elected as a member of the Boston Bar Association Council and eventually as its president in 1991, Marshall has been active in bar association and community activities. She served on the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, both in Massachusetts and nationally. In the United States, she participated in anti-apartheid activities as she had done as an undergraduate student in Johannesburg. She has served as a trustee of The African Fund of the American Committee on Africa, the senior anti-apartheid organization in the United States; and as a member of the boards of Africa News and the Southern Africa Legal Services and Legal Education, Inc. She has also served on numerous civic and charitable boards.

Marshall was awarded the American Bar Association's Margaret Brent Women Lawyers of Achievement Award, a national award that honors "outstanding women lawyers throughout the country who have achieved professional excellence within their area of specialty and have actively paved the way to success for other women lawyers." In 2001, she was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and she is the recipient of several honorary degrees, including from her alma mater, the University of the Witwatersrand, in 2000.