Hon. Christopher J. Muse (Ret.)

Hon. Christopher J. Muse (Ret.) joins Signature Resolution with a career that has placed him at nearly every seat at the legal table: public defender, criminal and civil trial attorney, labor negotiator, Superior Court Justice, and now mediator. He arrives with a singular depth of perspective on what moves cases toward resolution, combining the trial attorney’s instinct for what parties need to hear, the labor negotiator’s fluency in the power of persuasion, and the judge’s clear-eyed command of how cases are ultimately evaluated.

At the core of Judge Muse’s approach is a conviction that preparation is the precondition for everything else. He reads every case in full before a session, not to arrive with a predetermined view of where it should go, but to reach a genuine understanding of both parties’ positions and earn the trust that makes movement possible. He is instinctively engaging, establishing the kind of open conditions under which participants are comfortable enough to speak honestly, and steadily holds the process when conversations get difficult. He takes pride in his role as a peacemaker, facilitating productive problem-solving with earnest diplomacy, genuine patience, and a deep respect for the process that keeps him with a case until resolution is reached.

Judge Muse served as an Associate Justice of the Massachusetts Superior Court from 2001 to 2018, presiding over a mixed docket of criminal and civil matters across the state’s counties. His civil caseload spanned the full range of matters that come before the Superior Court, from municipal and state agency appeals, commercial, contract, and employment disputes, and all manner of personal injury claims, as well as high-stakes litigation with national significance. Widely considered to be thoughtful and fair throughout his tenure, Judge Muse is defined by his ability to manage emotionally charged situations with tact and care, and offer parties an honest assessment of where a case stands and what it will cost them to keep fighting.

Before the bench, Judge Muse spent more than two decades as partner at Muse and Muse in Boston, running a practice that demanded fluency in two very different modes of advocacy. As a trial attorney, he argued civil and criminal cases before juries and appellate panels in state and federal courts. As a labor attorney, he served as counsel and lead negotiator for major public employee unions, including the Boston Police Detectives Benevolent Society and the Service Employees International Union, negotiating dozens of collective bargaining agreements and learning, at high-pressure tables, that the power of persuasion and mutual agreement outlasts the power of authority every time.

Since leaving the bench, Judge Muse has built a mediation practice grounded in the same instincts that defined his career: thorough preparation, authentic engagement, and a persistence that does not waver when cases get hard. He completed the National Judicial College’s 40-hour Civil Mediation certification before retiring, treating the transition as a discipline in its own right, and has served as an Adjunct Trial Practice Instructor at Boston College Law School for more than twenty years.

Attorneys and parties who work with Judge Muse find a neutral who has stood where they are standing, who has argued, negotiated, and decided cases like theirs, and who brings that experience to bear with clarity, patience, and an honest commitment to resolution.