Current Supreme Court Justices
Chief Justice Joseph Lambert- Chief Justice Lambert was elected to the Supreme Court of Kentucky in 1986 by the citizens of the 3rd Supreme Court District, which is comprised of 27 counties in Southcentral Kentucky. In 1998, he became Kentucky’s fourth chief justice through a vote of his fellow justices. He began a second four-year term as Chief Justice in 2002 and a third term as Chief Justice in 2006. His current eight-year term as a justice of the Supreme Court runs through 2010.
During his tenure, Chief Justice Lambert has focused on implementing cutting-edge programs in technology, court records, judicial education, justice facilities, pretrial services, promotion of women, and Family and Drug courts. As a result, the Kentucky court system is proving to be one of the Commonwealth’s finest achievements. Chief Justice Lambert counts among his most significant accomplishments the 2002 passage of the amendment that made Family Court a permanent part of the Kentucky Constitution.
The Kentucky Department of Public Advocacy gave Chief Justice Lambert its Robert F. Stephens Public Service Award in 2006. In 2004, he received the Civil Rights Award from both the Northern Kentucky NAACP and the Lexington NAACP for his commitment to eliminating discrimination. In 2003, he was awarded the Kentucky Bar Association President’s Special Service Award. He was given the Kentucky Public Advocate Award in 2001. In 2000, the Kentucky Bar Association named him Outstanding Judge and the National Association of Drug Court Professionals gave him its Leadership Award.
In October 2007, U.S. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. appointed Chief Justice Lambert to a three-year membership on the Committee on Federal-State Jurisdiction of the Judicial Conference of the United States. The Judicial Conference of the United States established the Committee on Federal-State Jurisdiction in 1987 to study proposed changes in federal jurisdiction and to serve as a liaison with the state courts.
He is a former board member of the Conference of Chief Justices and Eastern Kentucky University. He currently serves as board chair of the Judicial Form Retirement Plan and the Rockcastle Hospital and Respiratory Care Center in Mt. Vernon, Ky.
He holds a bachelor’s degree from Georgetown College, Georgetown, Ky., and a juris doctor from the University of Louisville Brandeis School of Law, which gave him its Distinguished Alumni Award. He is a native of Rockcastle County and resides in Mt. Vernon with his wife, Debra, an attorney. They have two sons, Joseph and John.
Justice Bill Cunningham- Justice Bill Cunningham was elected to the Supreme Court of Kentucky in November 2006 to serve the 1st Supreme Court District.
Before becoming a member of the state's highest court, Justice Cunningham served as a circuit court judge for 15 years. He was elected to the Circuit Court Bench in November 1991 to serve the 56th Judicial Circuit, which consists of Caldwell, Livingston, Lyon and Trigg counties. He was re-elected in 1999 and served as circuit judge until January 2007.
Justice Cunningham earned his bachelor's degree from Murray State University in 1962 and his juris doctor in 1969 from the University of Kentucky College of Law. He is a veteran of the U.S. Army, having served in Vietnam, Korea and Germany.
Justice Cunningham is a native of Lyon County and an author of six books about regional history, which chronicle the struggle for racial justice in western Kentucky since the Civil War. He and his wife, Paula, have five sons and four grandchildren.
Justice John Minton Jr.- Justice John D. Minton Jr. was elected to the Supreme Court of Kentucky in November 2006 to represent the 2nd Supreme Court District. He had been appointed to the high court on July 24, 2006, to fill a vacancy created by Supreme Court Justice William S. Cooper, who retired June 30, 2006.
Prior to his appointment to the Supreme Court, Justice Minton served as judge for the Kentucky Court of Appeals, representing the 2nd Appellate District. He was elected to the Court of Appeals in November 2003 and served there until his appointment to the Supreme Court in July 2006. He was a circuit judge for the 8th Judicial Circuit, which consists of Warren County, from 1992 to 2003 before being elected to the Court of Appeals. From 1996 to 2003, he also served by special appointment of Chief Justice Lambert as chief regional judge for the Green River Region, a 21-county area.
Before his election to the Circuit Court Bench, Justice Minton practiced law in Bowling Green for nearly 15 years. He earned a bachelor's degree with honors in history and English from Western Kentucky University in 1974 and he earned his juris doctor from the University of Kentucky College of Law in 1977.
He is married to the former Susan Lenell Page, a Bowling Green native. They have a daughter, Page Sullivan Minton, and a son, John D. Minton, III.
Justice Lisabeth Abramson - Lisabeth Hughes Abramson was sworn in as a justice for the Supreme Court of Kentucky on Sept. 10, 2007, after being appointed by Gov. Ernie Fletcher to fill the vacancy created by the retirement of the late Justice William E. McAnulty, Jr. She represents Jefferson County, which is the 4th Supreme Court District.
Justice Abramson comes to the state's highest court after serving on the Kentucky Court of Appeals for the second time in her career. She was appointed on June 30, 2006, to fill a vacancy in Division 2 of the 4th Appellate District and subsequently elected to that position in November 2006. She first served as a Court of Appeals judge from 1997 to 1998, following an appointment by then Gov. Paul Patton.From January 1999 until her 2006 appointment to the Court of Appeals, Justice Abramson served as a circuit judge for the 30th Judicial Circuit, which consists of Jefferson County.
Justice Abramson earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Louisville, graduating in 1977 with highest honors. She graduated magna cum laude from the University of Louisville School of Law in 1980 and was named the Outstanding Graduate of her law school class. Before serving as a judge, she practiced law for 15 years, concentrating on business and commercial litigation.
Justice Abramson is a native of Princeton. She and her husband, Professor Leslie W. Abramson, have three sons.
Justice Mary Noble- Justice Mary C. Noble was elected to the Supreme Court of Kentucky in November 2006 to serve the 5th Supreme Court District.Justice Noble began her judicial career in 1991 when she was elected circuit judge for Fayette County. She was re-elected to that office in 2000, where she served until her election to the Supreme Court. While on the Circuit Court bench, she served two terms, 1998 to 2002, as chief regional circuit judge. Justice Noble is one of the founders of Kentucky Drug Courts and served as a Drug Court judge from 1996 to November 2006. She has been a member of the National Association of Drug Court Professionals Congress of State Drug Courts since its inception and has served as its president. She currently serves on the board of the National Association of Drug Court Professionals.
Justice Noble earned a bachelor’s degree in 1971 and a master's degree in 1975 from Austin Peay State University in Clarksville, Tenn. She completed her juris doctor at the University of Kentucky College of Law in 1981. She was in private practice from 1981 to 1991 and served as domestic relations commissioner from 1989 to 1991 before being elected a circuit judge.
Justice Noble was born in Jackson, Ky., in 1949. She and her husband, Larry Noble, live in Lexington.
Justice Wil Schroder- Justice Wil Schroder was elected to the Supreme Court of Kentucky in November 2006 to serve the 6th Supreme Court District. Justice Schroder has more than 23 years of prior judicial service. He served on the Kentucky Court of Appeals for more than 15 years (1991 to 2006). He also served as a trial judge on the Kenton District Court for almost eight years (1983 to 1991), which included one year as a juvenile judge.
Justice Schroder earned his bachelor's degree in 1968 and his juris doctor in 1970 from the University of Kentucky. He also earned an advanced law degree, LL.M., in 1971 from the University of Missouri at Kansas City. Justice Schroder was admitted to the Kentucky Bar in 1970, the Missouri Bar in 1972 and the United States Supreme Court Bar in 1974.
In the early 1970s, while completing his advanced law degree at the University of Missouri, Justice Schroder worked as an attorney for the Kansas City Legal Aid Society and as a corporate attorney for the St. Paul Insurance Company. Upon returning to Kentucky, he became an assistant law professor at Northern Kentucky University Salmon P. Chase College of Law (1972 to 1975) during the first three years the college operated as a Kentucky-based institution.
Justice Schroder was in private practice (1975 to 1983) in Covington with his brother, Robert, where he represented the Northern Kentucky Area Planning Commission and served as a contract attorney for the Special Fund of the Division of Workers' Compensation and as a Kenton County public defender. He also served as a hearing officer for the Kentucky Personnel Board and was appointed city attorney for Newport, Ky., (1982 to 1983) during the onset of Newport's early riverfront development.
Justice Schroder was born in 1946 in Fort Mitchell, where he and his wife, Susan Wahlbrink Schroder, reside. He is the father to two daughters, Stephanie and Lydia, and a son, Wil.
Justice Will Scott- Justice Scott was elected in November 2004 to represent the 7th Supreme Court District, which consists of 22 counties in Eastern Kentucky. Effective July 1, 2006, Justice Scott replaced Justice Martin E. Johnstone (who retired June 30, 2006) as Deputy Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Chief Justice Joseph E. Lambert conducted the formal swearing-in ceremony for Deputy Chief Justice Scott on July 17, 2006.
He served as circuit judge from 1984 to 1988 and was elected second vice president of the Kentucky Circuit Judges Association in 1986. Before serving the judiciary, he practiced law as a trial attorney from 1975 to 1980 and as assistant commonwealth's attorney for Pike County from 1981 to 1982.
Justice Scott was born in Pike County in 1947 and attended Eastern Kentucky University for one year before volunteering for service in the U.S. Army. Enlisting as a private in 1966, he finished his tour of duty in 1969 in Vietnam as a first lieutenant. Among his military honors are his airborne wings, the Bronze Star, the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry and the Combat Infantryman’s Badge.
After completing his military service, Justice Scott graduated with a bachelor's degree from Pikeville College. He earned a juris doctor in 1974 and a master’s degree in taxation in 1975 from the University of Miami School of Law in Coral Gables, Fla. He is licensed to practice law in both Kentucky and Florida and has practiced law in Kentucky courtrooms for nearly 30 years. Justice Scott is a member of the First Christian Church in Pikeville and is an avid hunter and fisherman.
