Justice Richard N. Palmer was born May 27, 1950 in Hartford, Connecticut. He graduated from Wethersfield High School in 1968. Justice Palmer received his Bachelor of Arts degree, Phi Beta Kappa, from Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut in 1972, where he captained the tennis and squash teams and was named a first-team All-American in squash. He received his Juris Doctor from the University of Connecticut School of Law, with high honors, in 1977, and was a member of the Connecticut Law Review.

Upon graduation from law school, Justice Palmer served as law clerk to Judge Jon O. Newman of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (then of the United States District Court) from 1977 to 1978. Justice Palmer was an associate with the Hartford law firm of Shipman & Goodwin from 1978 to 1980. Thereafter, he served as an Assistant United States Attorney for Connecticut from 1980 to 1982 and again from 1987 to 1990, and held several supervisory positions in that office, including Chief of the Criminal Division and Deputy United States Attorney. From 1984 to 1986, he practiced privately with the firm of Chatigny and Palmer. In 1991, Justice Palmer was appointed to the position of United State’s Attorney for Connecticut and from 1991 to 1993, he was the Chief State’s Attorney for Connecticut. On March 17, 1993, he was sworn in as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court.

Justice Palmer currently serves as the Administrative Justice for the Appellate Division. His current professional affiliations include his service as Co-Chair of the Appellate Rules Committee; Co-Chair of the Federal-State Council; Vice-Chair of the Board of Directors for the Justice Education Center, Inc.; a member of the Board of Directors for the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving; a member of the Board of Directors for Lawyers Concerned for Lawyers Connecticut, Inc.; Life Fellow of the Connecticut Bar Foundation; and Special Trustee of the Anna Fuller Fund.

Justice Palmer also was Chair of the Criminal Justice Commission from 2006 to 2017; a member of the Executive Committee of the Superior Court from 2000 to 2012; Chair of the Client Security Fund Committee from 2000 to 2006; Chair of the Judicial Branch Public Access Task Force; and a member of the Adjunct Faculty at Quinnipiac University School of Law (1998 to 2008) and Yale Law School (2006 to 2008), where he taught seminars on Ethics and the Criminal Law and Ethics in Litigation. He is a former member and past president of the Board of Directors of The Fund for Greater Hartford (formerly The Hartford Courant Foundation).

Justice Palmer has received a number of honors and awards, including the 2015 Judicial Recognition Award of the Connecticut Criminal Defense Lawyers Association; the 2006 Connecticut Law Review Award; the 2006 Judicial Branch Article Fifth Award; the 1997 Distinguished Graduate Award of the University of Connecticut Law School Alumni Association, Inc.; and an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Quinnipiac University School of Law, 1999.