Hunterdon (NJ) County Prosecutor Anthony Kearns III JD ’98 is not your average prosecutor. At the height of Baltimore’s battle with heroin, Prosecutor Kearns worked in the trenches as a substance abuse and family therapist at Johns Hopkins Hospital. In his practice, Prosecutor Kearns helped his clients and their families deal with the complicated issues addiction brought into their lives.

Prosecutor Kearns eventually came to Boston, once again working with individuals suffering from drug addiction. He enrolled at Suffolk Law, and though he left his practice as a substance abuse therapist, Prosecutor Kearns’ background and training as a therapist has permeated his legal career at every stop along the way – as an Assistant New Jersey Attorney General prosecuting doctors who over-prescribed narcotics for profit, as a criminal defense attorney aiding clients who were in the throes of drug addiction, and in his current capacity as Hunterdon County Prosecutor.

Governor Chris Christie appointed Kearns as Hunterdon County Prosecutor (analogous to a county District Attorney in Massachusetts) in 2010, and since he has taken over, he has focused his office’s resources on prosecuting drug and gang-related crimes. Though Hunterdon is a rural county, Prosecutor Kearns has seen an increase in gang activity, and has canvassed local and state officials for more resources to help combat the problem. Prosecutor Kearns’ background has been an asset to him in helping the Governor expand the state’s drug courts, which deal exclusively with drug-related crime and focus on defeating a defendant’s addiction.

Prosecutor Kearns credits much of his career success to his education at Suffolk. “I appreciate the practical knowledge that I received from Suffolk. I had the opportunity to participate in the Family Law clinic and worked as an intern for the Norfolk County District Attorney’s Office. Those experiences, combined with my great education at Suffolk, really helped me as I started my legal career, and have been an asset in my efforts as Prosecutor.”