About J. W. Carney Jr

J. W. Carney, Jr. is a criminal defense attorney who practices in all State and Federal Courts of Massachusetts. He has been voted by his peers as one of The Top 100 Lawyers in Massachusetts (out of over 50,000 attorneys), and Boston magazine identified him as one of The Five Best Private Criminal Defense Attorneys in the state. The preeminent legal publication in Massachusetts called him one of The Most Influential Lawyers in Massachusetts, a list that included the Governor and the Chief Justice of the courts. He also has been included in the annual publication The Best Lawyers in America since 1998.

Mr. Carney is skilled in all aspects of criminal defense, including pre-indictment investigations, arraignments, bail hearings, motion practice, plea bargain negotiations, jury trials, sentencing hearings, and appeals. He has handled thousands of cases over his career in the District, Superior, and Federal Courts, including over one hundred and seventy-five jury trials of major felonies.

After graduating from Holy Cross College (1975) and Boston College Law School (1978), he began his career as a full-time public defender in Boston from 1978 to 1983. Mr. Carney was appointed an Assistant District Attorney for Middlesex County in 1983, where he remained until 1988. The District Attorney named him the team leader of a group of prosecutors who handled the most serious cases, including murder and manslaughter, sexual abuse of children and adults, domestic violence, major motor vehicle offenses, drug trafficking, and white-collar prosecutions.