Duci Goncalves is the Director of the Youth Advocacy Division (YAD), the juvenile defender branch of the agency. Prior to becoming Director, Duci was the Attorney in Charge of the YAD Quincy Office for over ten years where she supervised attorneys and social workers while maintaining her own caseload. Duci started her career as a public defender with the YAD Roxbury Office in 2005 where she represented juveniles in delinquency and youthful offender matters in the Dorchester, West Roxbury, and Boston Juvenile Courts. From 2010-2011,while on a leave of absence from YAD, Duci worked as a staff attorney at Suffolk University School of Law’s Juvenile Justice Center supervising law students representing juveniles in the Boston Juvenile Court and assisting in the teaching of the Juvenile Defender Clinical Class.
In 2008, Duci was selected as one of fifteen lawyers by the Boston Bar Association to participate in its 2008-2009 Public Interest Leadership Program, a program designed for lawyers who have demonstrated leadership in public service, pro bono and organized bar activities. Duci is a recipient of the Massachusetts Bar Association’s 2012 Access to Justice Defender Award. In 2019 she was appointed by Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker to the Juvenile Justice Advisory Committee. Duci has participated in numerous CPCS and MCLE trainings as a panelist lecturing in various criminal and juvenile law topics. In addition to lecturing at trainings, Duci taught a seminar entitled “Racial Justice and Prosecutorial Metrics” at Northeastern University School of Law from 2020-2021. She earned her B.S. in Rehabilitation and Human Services from Boston University and her J.D. from Northeastern University School of Law.