PERSON: Maura Healey

Massachusetts Government

Governor

Maura Healey began serving as Massachusetts Attorney General in January 2015 and is leading the people’s law firm as the people’s lawyer, continuing a career spent fighting for justice and equal rights.

Maura’s historic victory in her first-ever run for office was driven by a strong grassroots campaign where she bested well-financed, establishment candidates in both the Democratic primary and the general election in November 2014. Being sworn in at Boston’s historic Faneuil Hall, Maura vowed to lead an office guided by her core values and driven by the issues that matter to the people of the Commonwealth – from health care and energy costs to protecting consumers, ensuring equality for all and keeping our communities safer.

“As the people’s lawyer, the Attorney General is here to take on those tough challenges,” she said. “Fighting for opportunity across Massachusetts. Securing its promise for every resident. That is my commitment to you.”

For seven years prior to her election, Maura helped lead the Attorney General’s Office, ultimately overseeing more than half of the office’s 500 employees. She began as Chief of the Civil Rights Division and went on to direct two of the office’s most prominent divisions: the Public Protection & Advocacy Bureau and the Business & Labor Bureau.

Earlier in her career, Maura was a prosecutor in Middlesex County and a litigation partner at WilmerHale, one of Boston’s most prestigious law firms. She also spent two years as a 5’4” starting point guard on a professional basketball team.

Maura is the oldest of five children and grew up in the small coastal community of Hampton Falls, N.H., just over the Massachusetts border. Her mother was a school nurse, her father a captain in the Navy and an engineer, and her stepfather taught history and coached high school sports.

After graduating from high school, Maura left her small town to attend Harvard College, where she majored in government and was the captain of the basketball team. After two years as a starting point guard for a professional basketball team in Austria, Maura returned to Massachusetts to attend law school at Northeastern University.

Maura lives in Charlestown with her partner. She is the first openly gay Attorney General in the United States.

— naag.org