Hon. Danielle L. Williams is an associate justice of the Springfield District Court in Massachusetts. She was appointed to the bench by Governor Charlie Baker in 2020. Williams filled the vacancy created by the retirement of the Hon. Patricia T. Poehler (Ret.).
During her time on the bench, she has also presided in the Palmer District Court.
Williams received a B.A. in English from the College of William and Mary in 1998. She then completed a J.D. at Western New England University School of Law in 2002.
After law school, Williams joined the Hampden County District Attorney’s Office as an assistant district attorney in 2003. Over the course of her tenure there, she held an assignment in the Insurance Fraud Unit. Williams remained with the District Attorney’s Office until 2007.
She left the public sector at that time to practice as an attorney at the boutique law firm, The Scott Firm in Brooklyn, New York, which specialized in entertainment, contract and trademark law. Williams continued to practice with the firm until 2011.
She then became president of GADA (2011 to 2013), a multi-media development company, during which time, she created a graphic novel series that extended superhero stories to minority cultures specifically from Egyptian mythology.
Williams ultimately returned to Massachusetts to practice as an associate at Fierst, Bloomberg & Ohm, LLP in 2013. Then, in 2016, she left the firm to become an assistant attorney general in the Government Bureau of the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office, though her time there would be brief.
Later that same year, Williams joined the Springfield District Court as an assistant clerk magistrate. She would remain in that capacity until her appointment to the bench in 2020.
Her memberships included the Hampden and Hampshire County Bar Associations. Williams was a founding board member of the Springfield Prep Charter School and a board member of Community Legal Aid.
In addition, she served as president of The Links Incorporated, a nonprofit corporation devoted to strengthening African American communities through fundraising, education, advocacy and volunteering.
Williams was born in Ventura, California.
