Home County: Jackson
Term of Service on the Supreme Court of Missouri: April 1992 – August 2012
Judge William Ray Price Jr. was born January 30, 1952, in Fairfield, Iowa.[i] He was educated in Keokuk, Iowa, public schools before attending the University of Iowa,[ii] from which he earned a bachelor of arts in religion.[iii] He studied ministry, on a Rockefeller fellowship, at Yale University School of Divinity from 1974 to 1975. [iv] He then attended Washington and Lee University School of Law in Lexington, Virginia, from which he earned his law degree in 1978.[v]
After being admitted to the Missouri bar in 1978,[vi] Price was an attorney at the Lathrop Norquist law firm in Kansas City from 1978 to 1992,[vii] first as an associate from 1978 to 1983 and then as a partner from 1984 to 1992.[viii] While at the firm, he served as chairman of the business litigation section from 1987 to 1988 and 1990 to 1992, [ix] as a member of the managing partners committee, from 1989 to 1990 and a member of the executive committee, from 1990 to 1992.[x]
On April 7, 1992, Governor John Ashcroft appointed Price to the Supreme Court of Missouri.[xi] Judge Price was retained by the people of the state of Missouri during the November 1994 election for a 12-year term, and retained again in the November 2006 election, for a second 12 year term.[xii] Price served as chief justice from July 1, 1999 through June 30, 2001, and from July 1, 2009, through June 30, 2011.[xiii] While on the Court, he helped establish drug courts throughout Missouri.[xiv] Price stepped down from the Supreme Court of Missouri on August 1, 2012 to return to private practice at the law firm Armstrong Teasdale in St. Louis.[xv] At the time he retired, Price was one of just nine judges to serve 20 years or more with the Court.[xvi]
Price has participated in several professional memberships and activities throughout his legal career. He was a member of the G.L. v. Zumwalt monitoring committee for the United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri (1985 to 1987), National Conference of Chief Justices (1999 to 2001 and 2009 to 2011), chairman of the National Association of Drug and Court Professionals (2009 to 2011),[xvii] Theodore McMillian American Inns of Court, Master Member (2013 to 2015), The Missouri Bar, National Courts Science Institute, Searle Civil Justice Institute, and chairman with the Missouri Drug Court Commission.[xviii]
Price has received numerous awards for his contributions to the legal field, including: Distinguished Non-Alumnus Award, University of Missouri-Columbia School of Law (1996),[xix] the Robert Walston Chubb Award, Legal Services of Eastern Missouri (2001), the annual Claire McCaskill Award, Missouri Association of Drug Court Professionals (2006), Harold Hughes Exceptional Service Award, National Rural Alcohol and Drug Abuse Network (2007), the President’s Award, The Missouri Bar (2010), the Theodore McMillian Judicial Excellence Award, The Missouri Bar (2011), Chief Justice Richard Holmes Award of Merit, American Judges Association (2011), the Spurgeon Smithson Award, The Missouri Bar (2012), and the Champion of Justice Award, Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis (2012), the Herbert Harley Award, American Judicature Society (2012), and the Spirit of Justice Award, Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis (2015).[xx]
[i] Robin Carnahan, Secretary of State, and Ryan Hobart, ed. Official Manual of the State of Missouri 2011-2012, (Jefferson City, MO: Missouri Secretary of State’s Office, 2012), 173, accessed on June 21, 2018, available from https://www.sos.mo.gov/bluebook/2011-2012/.
[ii] Robin Carnahan, Secretary of State, and Laura Egerdal, ed. Official Manual of the State of Missouri 2009-2010, (Jefferson City, MO: Missouri Secretary of State’s Office, 2010, 229. See also: “William Ray Price, Jr.-Curriculum Vitae,” Previously located on the Former Judges of the Supreme Court Page, Supreme Court of Missouri Website, accessed on July 25, 2018. Paper copy of document filed at the Supreme Court of Missouri Law Library in permanent file.
[iii] Carnahan, Secretary of State, and Hobart, ed. Official Manual of the State of Missouri 2011-2012, 173.
[iv] Nodaway News Leader Staff, “State Supreme Court Chief Justice to give NW commencement address,” Nodaway News Leader, Friday, April 9, 2010.
[v] Carnahan, Secretary of State, and Hobart, ed. Official Manual of the State of Missouri 2011-2012, 173.
[vi] Carnahan, Secretary of State, and Hobart, ed. Official Manual of the State of Missouri 2011-2012, 173.
[vii] Nodaway News Leader Staff, “State Supreme Court Chief Justice to give NW commencement address.” See also: “Judge William Ray Price, Jr.-Curriculum Vitae,” Previously located on the Former Judges of the Supreme Court page, Supreme Court of Missouri Website. Paper copy of document filed at the Supreme Court of Missouri Law Library.
[viii] Carnahan, Secretary of State, and Hobart, ed. Official Manual of the State of Missouri 2011-2012, 173. See also: “Price pledges fairness as he takes high court oath,” Post-Tribune, Friday, June 5, 1992. See also: “Judge William Ray Price, Jr.-Curriculum Vitae,” Previously located on the Former Judges of the Supreme Court page, Supreme Court of Missouri Website. Paper copy of document filed at the Supreme Court of Missouri Law Library.
[ix] Carnahan, Secretary of State, and Hobart, ed. Official Manual of the State of Missouri 2011-2012, 173. See also: “Price pledges fairness as he takes high court oath,” Post-Tribune, Friday, June 5, 1992. See also: “Judge William Ray Price, Jr.-Curriculum Vitae,” Previously located on the Former Judges of the Supreme Court page, Supreme Court of Missouri Website. Paper copy of document filed at the Supreme Court of Missouri Law Library.
[x] “Judge William Ray Price, Jr.-Curriculum Vitae,” Previously located on the Former Judges of the Supreme Court, Supreme Court of Missouri Website. Paper copy of document filed at the Supreme Court of Missouri Law Library.
[xi] Matt Blunt, Secretary of State, Rob Davis, ed. Official Manual of the State of Missouri, 2003-2004, (Jefferson City, MO: Secretary of State’s Office), 226.
[xii] Carnahan, Secretary of State, and Egerdal, ed. Official Manual of the State of Missouri 2009-2010, 229. See also: William Ray Price, Jr.-Curriculum Vitae,” Previously located on the Former Judges of the Supreme Court page, Supreme Court of Missouri Website. Paper copy of document filed at the Supreme Court of Missouri Law Library.
[xiii] Carnahan and Hobart, ed. Official Manual of the State of Missouri 2011-2012, 173.
[xiv] NADCP staff, New NADCP Board Chair Becomes Missouri’s Chief Justice,” National Association of Drug Court Professionals, Monday, July 27, 2009.
[xv] Scott Lauck, “Judge Price moves to Armstrong Teasdale,” Missouri Lawyers Weekly, Monday, August 6, 2012. See also: Scott Lauck, “Price’s Timing,” Missouri Lawyers Weekly, Sunday, June 10, 2012. See also: “William Ray Price, Jr., Partner,” Armstrong Teasdale Website, accessed on July 25, 2018, available from http://www.armstrongteasdale.com. Paper copy of document filed at the Supreme Court of Missouri Law Library.
[xvi] Scott Lauck, “Price’s timing,” Missouri Lawyers Weekly, Sunday, June 10, 2012.
[xvii] NADCP staff, New NADCP Board Chair Becomes Missouri’s Chief Justice.”
[xviii] “Judge William Ray Price, Jr., Partner” Armstrong Teasdale Website. Paper copy of document filed at the Supreme Court of Missouri Law Library.
[xix] “Judge William Ray Price, Jr.-Curriculum Vitae,” Previously located on the Former Judges of the Supreme Court page, Supreme Court of Missouri website. Paper copy of document filed at the Supreme Court of Missouri Law Library.
[xx] “William Ray Price, Jr., Partner,” Armstrong Teasdale Website. Paper copy of document filed at the Supreme Court of Missouri Law Library.
Biographical information authored by Ms. Megan Vancil, 2018, University of Missouri-Columbia.