He served as law clerk to the Honorable Raymond S. Wilkins, Chief Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, from 1953 to 1954. From 1954 to 1976, Justice O'Connor practiced law at Friedman, Atherton, Sisson & Kozol in Boston, and Mason, Crotty, Dunn & O'Connor and Wolfson, Moynihan, Dodson & O'Connor in Worcester. Prior to his tenure on the bench, he served as a member of the Supreme Judicial Court Advisory Committee on the Rules of Civil Procedure and the Supreme Judicial Court's Mental Health Legal Advisors Committee.
As Justice
He was the first Supreme Judicial Court Law Clerk to return to the state's highest court as an Associate Justice and the first graduate of Boston College Law School to serve on the Supreme Judicial Court. He received St. Thomas More Awards from the St. Thomas More Society of Worcester and from the BC Law School Alumni Association and honorary Doctor of Laws degrees from the New England School of Law and Suffolk University School of Law. He served on the court from 1981 until he retired in 1997 due to Constitutional age requirements. Justice O'Connor was widely recognized in the legal community for the respectful tone he set in the courtroom, his honesty, his integrity, and the courtesy he extended to all parties and counsel who appeared before him. He was recognized for his work on the Supreme Judicial Court Substance Abuse Project Task Force, served as chairman from 1992–1995 and honorary chairman thereafter. O'Connor was known for his detailed decisions, sometimes opposing the majority on the court, which led to the nickname the "Great Dissenter". In 1976, on the recommendation of his peers at the Bar Association, Governor Michael S. Dukakis appointed Justice O'Connor to the Massachusetts Superior Court, where he served with distinction for 5 years. In 1981, Gov. Edward J. King appointed him to the Supreme Judicial Court, where he served for 16 years and earned a reputation for his thoughtful and precise opinions. Governor King appointed O'Connor to the court in hopes he would be a Justice who would reliably oppose abortion, but Justice O'Connor made it clear he would not be someone who was easy to pigeonhole- notably breaking with the Republican party on issues such as the death penalty. As a private citizen, Justice O'Connor helped found the organization Massachusetts Citizens for Life. He told legislators that he personally found abortion abhorrent but would follow the law of the land and judicial precedent. He opposed the majority of the court and wrote a dissenting opinion when the Supreme Judicial Court found that protests in front of abortion clinics unfairly intimidated women seeking services. He wrote the ban could "impermissibly chill" people's right to protest. While on the Supreme Judicial Court, O'Connor wrote numerous majority opinions of significant importance. In a 1987 majority opinion that denied a woman the right to sue for damages if her boyfriend was injured in a work accident, O'Connor wrote that if unmarried couples were given the same rights as married couples, it would subvert the institution of marriage. In 1993, O'Connor acted for the court when it decided to refuse to stop gays from marching in the South Boston St. Patrick's Day Parade.
Later Years
In 2000, O'Connor was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, from which he would die in August 2007. Upon learning of O'Connor's death, Governor Deval Patrick issued a statement saying, "I was deeply saddened to learn of the passing of former Supreme Judicial Court justice Francis P. O'Connor. Justice O'Connor served our highest court with honor and distinction for many years and was widely respected and admired for his intellect, his integrity and humanity, and his commitment to the legal community and beyond." Justice Greaney, who served on the bench with O'Connor was d as saying, "He was one of the most distinguished and knowledgeable judges that I know. He approached each case with impartiality, with a great deal of legal research and thought, and wrote opinions that... would stand as precedent long after he retired from the court." Justice O'Connor and his wife Ann, had 10 children and 34 grandchildren and one great-grandchild.
