Press Release: 3/16/2026
BBA Honors Judge William G. Young with Haskell Cohn Award for 40 Years on the Federal Bench
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At a packed gathering at 16 Beacon Street, colleagues, students, and friends celebrated Judge Young’s extraordinary career and the independence of the judiciary he has championed for four decades.
The Boston Bar Association gathered Thursday evening at 16 Becaon St. to honor Judge William G. Young with the BBA’s Haskell Cohn Award, recognizing his remarkable 40 years of service on the federal bench.
The room was filled with friends, family, former students and clerks, members of Judge Young’s court family, and lawyers who have appeared before him over the decades—many of whom came to celebrate a jurist whose influence on the Massachusetts legal community has been profound.
Opening the evening, BBA President Suma V. Nair reflected on the moment the judiciary finds itself in and why Judge Young’s example matters so deeply today.
For more than four decades on the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts, she noted, Judge Young has shown up the same way: careful, prepared, and unafraid to defend the rule of law. In a time when courts are often judged by outcomes rather than reasoning, she emphasized that judicial independence is not a preference but a constitutional design, one that endures only when judges are willing to uphold it.
Remarks followed from Judge Patti B. Saris, who spoke about Judge Young’s impact on the federal judiciary and the generations of lawyers who have practiced before him. Judge Saris also shared remarks from Judge Denise J. Casper, who was unable to attend because she was in Italy cheering on Sean P. O’Neill of Anderson & Kreiger LLP, currently competing for Team USA in wheelchair curling at the Paralympic Games.
When Judge Young took the podium, the evening shifted from tribute to storytelling. His remarks—by turns thoughtful, heartfelt, and very funny—wove together anecdotes from his decades on the bench, lessons learned over a lifetime in the law, and a moving tribute to his late wife, who passed away last December.
One of the evening’s biggest laughs came from a story about the award’s namesake, Haskell Cohn. Early in his career, newspapers wrote that Judge Young resembled a young Theodore Roosevelt. When Young mentioned the comparison after running into Cohn on the street, Cohn replied that he had known Roosevelt, and Judge Young looked nothing like him.
Judge Young also admitted that receiving the Haskell Cohn Award had long been a quiet hope of his, given the distinguished judges who had received it before him.
Established in 1975 and endowed by Mintz Levin in honor of the 50th anniversary of Haskell Cohn’s admission to the bar, the award recognizes a member of the Massachusetts judiciary or a Massachusetts resident serving on the federal bench whose career calls for special recognition.
Judging by the standing ovation that closed the evening, the audience had little doubt that Judge Young’s four decades of service met that standard.
