Supreme Court of Missouri

Dates of judicial service

• Appointed to the Supreme Court in September 2004
• Retained in office at the November 2006 general election and again at the November 2018 general election for a 12-year term expiring December 31, 2030
• Served a two-year term as chief justice from July 2013 through June 2015; serving a second term as chief justice from July 2023 through June 2025
  
• Previously served as a judge on the Missouri Court of Appeals, Eastern District, from 1995 to 2004 and as its chief judge from 1999 to 2000

Education

• Educated in Hannibal, Missouri, public schools and valedictorian of her high school graduating class
• Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science, summa cum laude (majors - communications and print media), Truman State University, 1980
• Juris Doctor, University of Missouri-Columbia School of Law, 1983, Dean's List
  

Prior employment

• Partner, Clayton & Rhodes Law Office, Hannibal, 1984 to 1995
• Law clerk, Supreme Court of Missouri, the Honorable George Gunn, 1983 to 1984

Professional memberships and activities

• Member
  • The Missouri Bar, 1983 to present
  • Illinois Bar Association, 1984 to 1995
  • Kansas City Metropolitan Bar Association, 2004 to present
  • Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis, 1993 to present
  • Lawyers' Association of St. Louis, 1995 to present
  • Springfield Metropolitan Bar Association, 2004 to present
  • 10th Circuit Bar Association, 1983 to present
  • Cole County Bar Association, 2004 to present
  • American Bar Association, 1983 to present
  • National Association of Women Judges, 1995 to present
  • Women Lawyers Association of St. Louis, 1992 to present
  • Mid-Missouri Women Lawyers' Association, 2004 to present
  • Master, Elwood L. Thomas Inn of Court, 2006 to present
    

• Also admitted to practice law before the Supreme Court of the United States and the United States District Court for both the Eastern and Western districts of Missouri
• Volunteer judge, Lewis and Clark Middle School "truancy court," Jefferson City, 2004 to present
• Mentor for members of The Missouri Bar and for numerous young people
• Commencement speaker:
  • Truman State University, 2000
    
  • University of Missouri-Columbia, School of Law 1997 and 2005
  • University of Missouri-Kansas City, School of Law, 2006
  • A.T. Still University, 2007

• Continuing legal education lecturer
• Instructor:
  
  • Missouri Judicial College
    
  • National Appellate Judges' Conference
  • National District Attorneys Association
    

Civic and charitable activities

• Member, Rotary Club of Jefferson City, 2004 to present
• Member, Rotary Club of Kirkwood, 1996 to present
  
• Member, Blue Springs Lions Club, 2005 to present
• Member, Zonta, Jefferson City, 2006 to present
• Member, Board of Directors, Matthews-Dickey Boys' and Girls' Club, St. Louis, 2004 to 2007
  
• Member, Grace Episcopal Church, Jefferson City, 1995 to present; also serves as altar guild member, lay reader and co-chair of minister search committee
• Speaker to students and adults on Constitution Day, Jefferson City, 2005 to present
• Reader to elementary students, Read Across America, 2000 to present
• Judge, We the People state finals, Jefferson City, 2005 to present
• Speaker, YMCA Youth in Government State Leadership Program. 2001 to present
  
• Speaker, American Legion Youth in Government
• Keynote speaker, Missouri Girls' State, 2002 to present
  
• Member, PEO, BW Chapter, Jefferson City, 1996 to present
• Member, University of Missouri Alumni Association, 1983 to present
  
• Member, St. Louis Forum, 1999 to present
• Board of Directors, Missouri CASA, 2006 to present
• Member, Missouri Women's Forum, 2007 to present
  

Awards and honors

• Honorable Theodore McMillian Judicial Excellence Award, The Missouri Bar, 2016
  
• Ingram's "50 Missourians You Should Know," 2015
• Woman of the Year, Missouri Lawyer's Media, 2014
  
• Women's Justice Award, The Daily Record, 2008
• Rotarian of the Year, 2007
• Zonta "Woman of Achievement," Jefferson City, 2007
  
• Woman of the Year, Women Lawyers Association of St. Louis, 2003
• Henry Toll Fellow, 1997
• Citation of Merit Alumni Award, University of Missouri, 1997
• Faculty/Alumni Award, University of Missouri-Columbia, 2002
• Equal Justice Award, Legal Services of Eastern Missouri, 1994 (for extraordinary efforts to provide pro bono legal services to victims of the 1993 flood)
• Citizen of the Year, Kirkwood, Missouri, 2002
• Truman State University Outstanding Alumni Award, 2003

Additional Information

• A seventh-generation Missourian and one of five children raised on a dairy farm in Ralls County, Missouri