30 June 2025

ST. LOUIS – Judge John P. Torbitzky has been elected chief judge of the Missouri Court of Appeals, Eastern District, by unanimous vote of the judges of the court. His one-year term begins July 1, 2025. The chief judge is the chief administrative officer of the court, presides at court en banc meetings and represents the court to the public. 

Governor Michael L. Parson appointed Torbitzky to the Eastern District in August 2021. He received his undergraduate degree, cum laude with departmental honors, from the University of Missouri-Columbia and his law degree, summa cum laude, from Saint Louis University School of Law. After graduating from law school, he served as a judicial law clerk for the Honorable Zel M. Fischer at the Supreme Court of Missouri from 2012 to 2014. He worked in private practice from 2014 until his judicial appointment in 2021. In November 2022, he was retained in office for a 12-year term expiring December 31, 2034.

Torbitzky has been very active with legal organizations. He is a member of The Missouri Bar, the Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis, St. Louis County Bar Association, and the Lawyers Association of St. Louis. He serves on the Missouri Court Automation Committee, the Supreme Court Committee on Civic Education, and numerous work groups of those committees. He participates in the National Courts and Sciences Institute Data Science and Artificial Intelligence Strategic Initiative. He is an alumnus of The Missouri Bar’s Leadership Academy and received Missouri Lawyers Weekly’s “Up and Coming” Award in 2018. 

“I am looking forward to serving as the next chief judge,” Torbitzky said. “In 2026, we celebrate the Eastern District’s 150th Anniversary. We hope to have several events to honor the legacy of this court and the whole of the judiciary. We also hope to use these events to promote understanding of the courts and the vital role they play in our constitutional system of government.” 

The Missouri Court of Appeals, Eastern District, hears appeals from the circuit courts in 25 counties in eastern Missouri and the city of St. Louis. It is the largest court in the state appellate system. The Court is located in the historic Old Post Office in downtown St. Louis but regularly holds sessions at various locations throughout the district. 

Contact: Morgan A. Coleman, clerk of the court

Missouri Court of Appeals, Eastern District

(314) 539-4300