The Honorable Lee M. Peterson is an active lifetime member of the National Association of Women Judges. She was appointed District One Co-Director on October 25, 2025. Judge Peterson was sworn in as an Associate Justice of the Probate and Family Court in January 2016. She was appointed First Justice of the Norfolk County Probate and Family Court in 2024 and continues to serve in that capacity.

Prior to becoming a judge, Judge Peterson was an attorney at the law firm McCarter & English, LLP (f.k.a. Gadsby Hannah, LLP) from 2005 until 2016. Prior to entering private practice, Judge Peterson worked as an Assistant Judicial Case Manager and as a Probation Officer with the Norfolk County Probate and Family Court. She also previously worked as a Caseworker for the Department of Children and Families and as an intern in the Norfolk County Probate and Family Court’s Probation Department.

Judge Peterson has presented various family law topics for the Boston Bar Association, Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education, Social Law Library, Massachusetts Family and Probate Inn of Court, as well as at various law schools and bench bar meetings.

Judge Peterson has served on several committees including the Supreme Judicial Court’s Committee to Study Rule 3:03, the Supreme Judicial Court’s Standing Advisory Committee on the Rules of Civil Procedure, the Probate and Family Court’s Rules Committee, the Commission on Judicial Conduct, the Probate and Family Court’s Diversity Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging Committee and Writing Support Committee. She also has served as a mentor for newly appointed Justices of the Probate and Family Court.

Judge Peterson has a Bachelor’s Degree from Boston College and a Master’s Degree in Social Work from Simmons College School of Social Work. She received her law degree from Suffolk University Law School, where she pursued a Civil Litigation Concentration and graduated summa sum laude, with distinction.