Term Ends: 2022
Party: D
Vanessa Guidry-Whipple is the Chief Judge of the First Circuit Court of Appeal. She is a lifelong resident of Terrebonne Parish. She attended the University of Southwestern Louisiana, where she was the recipient of the Alumni Academic Scholarship and received her Bachelor of Arts Degree summa cum laude. She received her juris doctor degree from Loyola Law School, where she was a member of the Loyola Moot Court Board, Appellate Advocacy Honors Program and was inducted into the Blue Key National Honor Society. In 1990, she became the first woman elected to the 12-judge First Circuit Court of Appeal. Prior to here lection to the Court, she practiced civil law for ten years in a general civil practice, including serving as in-house counsel for Antill Pipeline Co.
In 1994, she chaired the statewide Committee to Revise the Uniform Rules of the Louisiana Courts of Appeal, which revisions were adopted in October of 1994. She served on the Marcus Advisory Committee of the Louisiana Supreme Court for the revision of the Code of Judicial Conduct and continues to serve on the present Supreme Court Advisory Committee,considering the recent proposals to the A.B.A. Model Code of Judicial Conduct.
She has served on the Judiciary Commission of Louisiana for two terms (eight years) by appointment of the Louisiana Supreme Court, including service as chair of the Commission.Prior to becoming Chief Judge, she served as an ad hoc justice on the Louisiana Supreme Court,where she became the authoring judge during her service. In her service as Chief Judge, and asa member of the Publications Committee of the National Conference of Chief Judges of State Courts of Appeal, she has written numerous articles that have been published in “The Chief Brief,” the official publication of the N.C.C.J.S.C.A., and has served on the Council’s Education and Planning Committee. She has also served on the Host Committees for the N.C.C.J.S.C.A.and the National Association of Women Judges, coordinating national conferences on issues affecting the judiciary. She was recently re-elected to a third term on the First Circuit Court of Appeal (unopposed) and continues to serve as the first female Chief Judge in the history of the First Circuit Court of Appeal.