Joseph Spada graduated cum laude from Boston College, and earned his JD at The Catholic University, Columbus School of Law, in Washington, DC, where he worked for a year in the Justice Department. Early in his career Joseph worked as a law clerk with the Connecticut Trial Courts, an attorney with the Massachusetts Department of Revenue, and the Suffolk County's Sheriff's Department. He spent twenty years as a federal staff attorney with the Honorable Lawrence P. Cohen at the United States District Court, District of Massachusetts. He is a member of the Massachusetts Bar, the United States District Court, District of Massachusetts, and the First Circuit Court of Appeals.