The Hon. Judith Nelson Dilday (Ret.) was an associate justice of the Middlesex County Probate and Family Court in Massachusetts. She was appointed to serve as an associate justice in 1998. Dilday retired in 2009.
At the time of her appointment, she had presided as a circuit judge of the Probate and Family Court since 1993.
Dilday received a bachelor’s degree in French, English, and secondary education from the University of Pittsburgh in 1966. She then spent the next several years teaching French as a public school teacher in Pittsburgh. Then, after relocating to Massachusetts, she completed a J.D. at Boston University School of Law in 1974.
Dilday began her legal career as an assistant district attorney with the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office, becoming the first black woman to serve in the office. Prior to joining the bench, Dilday had also worked as a founding partner at Burnham, Hines & Dilday, an attorney with Stern & Shapiro, and an attorney advisor in the Office of the Solicitor with the United States Department of the Interior.
Dilday also served as the first black president of the Women’s Bar Association.
After retiring from the bench, she taught English at Qiqihar University in China for six months before returning to the United States, where she then studied acting. Dilday went on to work as an actor, appearing in commercials as well as productions of “The Audacity: Women Speak” and “20th Century Blues.”
Dilday grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.