Tejal Mehta, an associate justice in the Ayer District Court, has been sworn in as the first justice of the Ayer District Court in Massachusetts this week. She served as an associate justice in the Ayer District Court, after being appointed to the court in February 2018 by then-Gov. Charlie Baker.

During her March 2 swearing-in, Mehta was joined by her family and associates, the Lowell Sun reported. Her 14-year-old daughter, Mena Sheth, who is one of the three children shared by Mehta and her husband, Ketan Sheth, was among the ceremony speakers. During her speech, she quoted U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg when discussing her mother, Lowell Sun reported.

“RBG said, ‘Fight for things you care about but do so in a way that will lead others to join you,’” she said. “My mom is the exact embodiment of this quote. Through her kindness and outgoing personality, she encourages people to share her understanding of the world. Being a judge has given her the ability to see and do what’s best and I can’t think of anyone better to have that responsibility.”

Mehta also referenced a quote in her speech, from writer C.S. Lewis: “You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending,” as reported by the Lowell Sun. She shared that the quote was spoken to her recently by a man on probation for a criminal conviction as he stood before her in court.

According to Mehta, the man used the quote to express the revelation he experienced following his conviction. “His probation had a positive impact on him,” Mehta said. “He had a turning point and realized he had a purpose to fulfill and that purpose was to treat people with compassion, kindness and empathy. “That is the theme of what we do here in Ayer,” she added. “Help people see the potential in themselves — to start where they are, and change their endings.”

Mehta started her career in civil work, before becoming a prosecutor with the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office, where she served for more than a decade. She began her career as a law clerk at the Suffolk Superior Court in Boston and became an associate at Deutsch Williams Brooks DeRensis & Holland practicing civil litigation and criminal defense. “As a lawyer, you can help people, but you can only help them to a point,” she told the Lowell Sun. “As a judge, you can do so much more and get to the root of issues and talk to people in such a way that really gets through to them.”

A founding board member of the South Asian Bar Association and a board member of the Board of Bar Overseers, Mehta is involved in her community as a troop leader for the Girl Scouts of Eastern Massachusetts and is a former executive board member of the Bedford Montessori School. She graduated from Notre Dame University and received a J.D. from Boston University School of Law. She and her family live in Concord.

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