Judge Mark D. Pfeiffer

Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District

Judge Mark D. Pfeiffer was appointed to the Missouri Court of Appeals by Governor Jeremiah “Jay” Nixon in 2009 and was retained by the voters of the State of Missouri in 2010, and again in 2022, for a term expiring December 31, 2034. Judge Pfeiffer served a two-year term as the Chief Judge of the Western District Court of Appeals from July 2016 through June 2018.

Judge Pfeiffer was born in Jacksonville, Illinois, on May 25, 1967, to Calvin and Donna Pfeiffer. As the son of a traveling fertilizer salesman and pre-school teacher, Judge Pfeiffer was raised in Downer's Grove, Illinois, St. Charles, Missouri, Chillicothe, Missouri, and Columbia, Missouri, where he ultimately graduated from Columbia's David H. Hickman High School in 1985. Judge Pfeiffer received his bachelor's degree from Westminster College (Fulton, Missouri) in 1989 (where he played varsity baseball and basketball), and his law degree from the University of Missouri School of Law (Columbia, Missouri) in 1991 (where he was a member of the Board of Advocates).

Prior to joining the bench in 2009, Judge Pfeiffer practiced law with the Law Firm of Farrington & Curtis in Springfield, Missouri (1991-1995), and the Law firm of Bley & Pfeiffer in Columbia, Missouri (1995-2009), where he specialized in civil trial and appellate advocacy. Judge Pfeiffer presently serves as the President of the National Council of Chief Judges of State Courts of Appeals, he serves as the Chairperson of the Missouri Appellate Courts Education Committee, and he teaches a course titled American Jurisprudence at his alma mater, Westminster College. Judge Pfeiffer is a frequent lecturer on the law, previously speaking at activities sponsored by the Missouri Bar Association, the Boone County Bar Association, the Platte County Bar Association, the Kansas City Metropolitan Bar Association, the American Board of Trial Advocates, the Missouri Association of Trial Attorneys, the Missouri Organization of Defense Lawyers, the Missouri Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the Attorney General of the State of Missouri, the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Law, the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law, the University of Central Missouri, Westminster College, William Woods University, Truman State University, Columbia College, and numerous public high schools throughout the central and western regions of the State of Missouri.  Judge Pfeiffer is also a judicial fellow of the National Board of Trial Advocacy.

Judge Pfeiffer's past and present civic and charitable involvement includes serving his Presbyterian denomination church in Columbia - The Crossing Church; Missouri United Methodist Church; the Ronald McDonald House Board of Directors; the Columbia Youth Basketball Association; and the Daniel Boone Baseball Little League (where he coached 8 different youth baseball teams to state championships).

Judge Pfeiffer married his wife, the former Tracey A. Wright, on July 1, 1989, and they raised two sons in their hometown of Columbia, Missouri: Wilson (a 2015 graduate of the University of Missouri-Columbia, a 2019 graduate of Nova Southeastern University School of Medicine, and a proud member of the United States Air Force) and Brady (a 2017 graduate of the University of Central Missouri).