Judge Michael E. Gardner

Missouri Court of Appeals, Eastern District

Dates of Judicial Service:

• Elected in 2014 as Circuit Judge for the 32nd Judicial Circuit of Missouri (Bollinger, Cape Girardeau and Perry Counties)
• Served as Presiding Judge of the 32nd Judicial Circuit of Missouri from 2017 to 2018
• Appointed to Missouri Court of Appeals in February 2020

Education:

• Juris Doctorate, University of Missouri-Columbia School of Law,  cum laude, 2004
  • Order of the Coif
  • Lead Articles Editor, Missouri Law Review
• B.A., Political Science, University of Missouri-Columbia, 2001

Prior Employment:

• Private practice, 2005-2014
• Law Clerk, Hon. Stephen N. Limbaugh, Jr., Supreme Court of Missouri, 2004-2005

Professional Memberships:

• The Missouri Bar
• Missouri Board of Law Examiners, 2013-present
• Board of Certified Court Reporter Examiners, 2023-present 
• Board of Trustees of The Missouri Bar Foundation, 2017-present
• Board of Governors of The Missouri Bar, 2012-2014
• Young Lawyers' Section Council, 2010-2014
• Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis
• Lawyers Association of St. Louis
• Cape Girardeau County Bar Association

Civic and Charitable Activities:

• Cape West Rotary Club, member and past-president
• Rotary District 6060, Assistant Governor, 2016-2018
• Shawnee District of the Boy Scouts of America, Membership Chair, 2012-2018
• Former board member of a nonprofit that built a school for impoverished children in Haiti 
• St. Vincent de Paul Parish, Cape Girardeau

Awards and Honors:

• Missouri Lawyers Weekly’s “Up and Coming” Public Service Award, 2015
• Young Lawyers’ Section Chairperson’s Award, 2013
• Southeast Missourian’s “Who’s Who in Southeast Missouri Business,” 2013
• National MS Society Leadership Award, 2007

Additional Information:

• Born in St. Louis; raised in Kelso, Missouri
• Married with four children