Background
Michael Gaffney was born in 1961 in the Bronx, New York, the northernmost borough of New York City and the only one located on the mainland. The area was first settled in 1639 by Jonas Bronck, and its population expanded rapidly in the early twentieth century as subway and elevated rail lines were built.
The borough was already undergoing significant change around the time of his birth. The Bronx had about 1.42 million residents in 1960, and the housing and economic pressures that would intensify during the following decades were becoming visible in the mid-century period.
Education
Gaffney's documented education includes the University of California. The university was founded in 1868 as a publicly supported land-grant institution, offering instruction in the mechanical arts and agriculture.
In later decades the University of California became the public segment of California's higher education system primarily responsible for awarding doctoral degrees and several professional degrees, including in law.
Career
Michael Gaffney's documented career is in law. He worked as a partner in a legal practice and was admitted to the Massachusetts bar in 1987.
Admission to practice in Massachusetts involves two bodies. The clerk of the Supreme Judicial Court for Suffolk County receives admission petitions, while the Board of Bar Examiners, established under Chapter 221 of the Massachusetts General Laws, reviews applicants' qualifications, knowledge, and character and fitness.
Massachusetts also has an early place in the history of bar admission, having administered the first written bar examination in the United States in 1855. Earlier admission practices in the country had relied on oral examinations.
