Denise J. Casper

U.S. District Judge, U.S. District Court, Massachusetts

Denise J. Casper has been serving as a district judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts since 2011.  Immediately prior to her appointment to the bench, she served as the Deputy District Attorney for Middlesex County. Prior to serving as the Deputy District Attorney, Judge Casper served for six years as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Criminal Division of the Office of the United States Attorney in Boston.  Ultimately, she became Deputy Chief of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force Unit.  Before becoming a prosecutor, Judge Casper clerked for Justices of the Massachusetts Appeals Court and was an attorney in the Litigation Department of the firm last known as Bingham McCutchen LLP.  

She was an active member of the Boston Bar Association and has served as an officer of the Association and a member of its governing council. She currently serves on the boards of the Steppingstone Foundation and the Brookline High School Innovation Fund and she has also served on the boards of the Park School, Big Sister Association of Greater Boston, the Executive Board of the Women's Bar Foundation and the Massachusetts Black Women Attorneys.  In addition, Judge Casper has taught Legal Writing and Advocacy at the Boston University School of Law.  

Since joining the Court, she has chaired the Court’s Bench/Bar Conference, “Changing Landscaping in Law, Legal Practice and Beyond,” served as chair of an ad hoc Criminal Working Group Committee, organized the U.S. District Court forums and, for several years, convened an annual roundtable discussion with newer members of the bar and the judges.  From 2015-2020, she served on the Judicial Conference Committee on Judicial Security.  Judge Casper is a graduate of Wesleyan University (1990) and Harvard Law School (1994).