Ruth L. Adeyinka (formerly, Deras) was born in San Pedro Sula, Honduras and immigrated to the United States at the age of seven. She was raised in the city of Chelsea, Massachusetts. Following college and law school, Ruth was admitted to the Massachusetts Bar in June of 2010. Ruth’s passion, commitment and devotion to social change and social justice are cornerstones of her professional career. Ruth’s legal trajectory includes time in private practice; working on family and immigration law matters, at the MA Trial Court where she last served as, Court Service Center Community Engagement Manager and, most recently in academia as a visiting professor at, New England Law|Boston (Spring 2021).
Ruth is currently in private practice focusing on immigration and family law. Ruth is a member of many legal and civic associations: the Massachusetts Association of Hispanic Attorneys (MAHA), of which she served as President in 2016, the Boston Bar Association, the Immigration Advocates Network, the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition, Suffolk University Alumni Association, and the Women’s Bar Association. She currently serves on MAHA’s Advisory Board, is a member of the Joint Bar Committee (JBC) on Judicial Appointments, a body that works with the Governor’s Chief Legal Counsel to independently review, evaluate and report on the qualifications of judicial and clerk-magistrate candidates to all courts of the commonwealth and, is a member of the Supreme Judicial Court’s Standing Committee on Lawyer Well-Being.