Bench & Bar September/October 2025

As Kentucky’s first female Chief Justice, are you a sym bol, a milestone your gender has achieved in Kentucky? Being chosen by my fellow Justices as the Chief Justice is one of the greatest honors of my professional life. So many women came before me in the profession that I don’t see myself as any symbol. I do hope to serve as an example that gender, socioeconomic status, and regionality aren’t overly restrictive. I suppose my selection is a historical gender note to those outside our small group of col leagues. But I can assure you that none of the Justices think about our work in terms of gender. Since 2022 you have served as the Chair of the Kentucky Judicial Mental Health Com mission. How are mental health issues impacting the judiciary and how can the legal profession as whole best address these problems? When I was elected Chief Justice, I stepped aside as Chair and appointed Deputy Chief Justice Robert Conley as Chair of the Commission. But I remain actively involved in the work. We know that one in five adults in the U.S. expe riences some form of mental health issue each year, and our court system is called upon to address mental illness, substance use disorders, and intellec tual and developmental disabilities because many Kentuckians show up in every courtroom with one or more of these needs. The Kentucky Judicial Commission on Mental Health recommends and implements transformational changes meant to improve the judicial system's response to individuals involved in the justice system who are then experienc ing mental health needs, substance use issues, or intellectual and developmental disabilities. The Commission includes members of the judiciary; the juvenile, criminal, and child protection systems;

MBREE

• KCOJ occupies approximately 5.4 million square feet of facility space. We are engag ing in long-term planning to ensure the structures and systems that support 3,300 judicial branch employees are adequately maintained, and that new, efficient facili ties are constructed where objective criteria show the greatest need. • I am very proud of the work that is being done by the Judicial Mental Health Com mission and its sub-committees. Over 500 volunteers are working across disciplines to coordinate best practices where the judi cial system is called upon to handle cases involving substance use, mental illness and intellectual and developmental disabilities. And our Specialty Courts, including the Mental Health Court, Drug Court, and Veterans Treatment Court do amazing work and save millions of dollars with very limited resources. I encourage those who might want to get involved with the work

to reach out by sending an email to jcmh@ kycourts.net. Over 500 citizens are working productively on various committees. • Four years ago, at the joint request of the Supreme Court and the Kentucky Bar Association, the American Bar Association undertook an extensive study of Ken tucky’s attorney discipline process. The ABA submitted 25 recommendations for modernizing Kentucky’s attorney discipline practices, including changes to structure, resources, public access and outreach, pro cedures, training, diversion, and sanctions. We hope to be able to have new rules for members to publicly comment upon at the next Annual Convention. When the pro posed rules are released for comment, I ask that the Bar speak up and help us make the needed changes.

9 bench & bar

Photo by Mark Cornelison.