Suffolk DA Conley To Step Down

BOSTON, MA —Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley is resigning to take a position at a Boston law firm he announced in a press conference Wednesday afternoon from his office at Bulfinch Place

Conley said he's leaving the DA's office to take a job as special counsel to Mintz Levin’s litigation section and senior adviser to ML Strategies. His last day will be Sept. 26.

Conley previously announced he wouldn't be seeking reelection after 16 years in the position. Rachael Rollins is the Democratic nominee running to replace him. The former chief legal counsel of the MBTA and MassDOT beat out Conley's pick during the primary. Conley said he expected Gov. Charlie Baker to appoint an interim replacement after he left at the end of the month.

Conley is the chief law enforcement officer for Boston, Chelsea, Revere, and Winthrop, overseeing an office of about 265 men and women who handle about 35,000 criminal cases every year in Massachusetts’ capital city and what is described as its most diverse county.

A career prosecutor before taking public office, Conley served as an assistant district attorney for nine years, prosecuting homicides, domestic violence, and other serious felonies in the DA's office before becoming the district attorney. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, he was one of a handful of state prosecutors named to Massachusetts’ first anti-gang violence task force, according to the DA's website.

Photo:DA Conley participates in the "No on 2" Press Conference. Courtesy Suffolk District Attorney's office