Judge Cynthia L. Martin

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Cynthia L. Martin

Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District

Judge Cynthia L. Martin


Dates of Judicial Service:
  • Appointed to the Missouri Court of Appeals October 2009; assumed office November 9, 2009

Education:
  • Bachelor of Arts, 1981, William Jewell College, Liberty, Missouri, majoring in Psychology and in Communications (Summa Cum Laude)
  • Juris Doctor, 1984, University of Missouri at Kansas City, School of Law (Valedictorian)

Prior Employment:
  • Associate, Jackson, Dillard Brouillete, Weisenfels, Phillips and Wood, 1984-1987
  • Partner, Dillard & Weisenfels, 1987-1990
  • Partner, Weisenfels & Vaughan, 1990-2000
  • Shareholder, Sole Practitioner, Cindy Reams Martin, P.C., 2000-2009

Professional Membership and Activities:
  • The Missouri Bar (Committee Reviewing Specialization; Committee on the Independence of the Judiciary, Task Force on Professionalism)
  • Kansas City Metropolitan Bar Association (Young Lawyers Section President, 1990; President, 1999)
  • Kansas City Bar Foundation (President, 2002-2003)
  • Missouri Board of Law Examiners (2001-2011)
  • National Conference of Bar Examiners Board of Trustees (2011-2021)
  • Chair, NCBE Testing Task Force (2018-2020) and of Implementation Steering Committee (2021-2024) responsible for research and development of Next Generation of the Bar Examination
  • Association For Women Lawyers
  • Chair, Supreme Court Ad Hoc Committee on E-Discovery
  • Member, Supreme Court Ad Hoc Committee to Study Methods Conducting and Grading Bar Examination
  • Co-Chair Supreme Court Commission on Civil Justice Reform (2019-2024)
  • Sixteenth Judicial Circuit Nominating Commission-Lawyer Member (2003-2009)
  • Interest on Lawyers' Trust Account Foundation (1991-1995)

Civic and Charitable Activities:
  • Lee's Summit Educational Foundation (2006-2009)
  • Southeastern Jackson County Citizen's Association (2002-2009)
  • Lee's Summit North Music Parents (2002-2007)

Awards and Honors:
  • Listed Among Best of the Bar by Missouri Lawyer's Weekly (2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009)
  • Listed as Missouri and Kansas Super Lawyer (2006, 2007, 2008, 2009)
  • Women's Justice Award presented by Missouri Lawyer's Weekly (Public Official), 2010
  • Association For Women Lawyers, Woman of the Year 2009, 2012
  • President's Award, Kansas City Metropolitan Bar Association (1995)
  • President's Award, Kansas City Metropolitan Bar Foundation (2004)
  • President's Award, Missouri Bar Association (2005)
  • William Jewell College Law Society Alumni Award (2000)
  • UMKC Law Alumni Association Practitioner of the Year Award (2005)
  • UMKC School of Law Alumni Achievement Award (2004)
  • Recipient of William Jewell College Achievement Award (2011)
  • Joseph E. Stevens Aspire to Excellence Award presented by the KCMBA (2013)
  • Named the recipient of the Theodore McMillian Judicial Excellence Award by the Missouri Bar (2014)
  • Missouri Bar Foundation Spurgeon Smithson Award (2018)
  • Judicial Excellence Appellate Judges Award (2023)

Additional Information:
  • Born July 1, 1959 in Clinton, Missouri
  • Married with two sons

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