Botsford graduated
magna cum laude with a B.A. from
Barnard College in 1969. At Barnard, she was a member of
Phi Beta Kappa society. She earned her
J.D. degree from
Northeastern University School of Law in 1973. She later earned a
Master of Public Administration degree from the
John F. Kennedy School of Government at
Harvard University in 2007. Upon graduating law school in 1973, Botsford served as a law clerk to Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Justice
Francis J. Quirico. She subsequently served as an Assistant Attorney General under
Attorney General Francis X. Bellotti for four years. She later served as an assistant district attorney in the office of Middlesex County District Attorney
Scott Harshbarger for six years. Botsford practiced law in the private sector as an associate at the firm of Hill & Barlow for one year before going on to serve as a partner at Rosenfeld, Botsford & Krokidas, a
Boston law firm, for three years. In 1989, Botsford was appointed as an associate justice of the Superior Court, where she served for eighteen years until her appointment to the Supreme Judicial Court after the death of Justice
Martha B. Sosman. Botsford has also taught at the
Northeastern University School of Law, Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education (MCLE)
Boston University Law School, the
National Judicial College, and the
Flaschner Judicial Institute. ==References==