Deanell Reece Tacha

Hon. Deanell Reece Tacha (Ret.) served on the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals for 25 years. She was Chief Judge of that court from 2001-2008. Prior to her appointment to the Court, she was a Professor of Law and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs at the University of Kansas. Following her retirement from the Tenth Circuit she served as Dean of the Pepperdine University School of Law from 2011-2017. Since that time she has been an arbitrator and mediator with JAMS. During her time on the bench she was chair of the Judicial Conference Committee on the Judicial Branch for two terms and served on the Judicial Conference of the United States. She was a member of the United States Sentencing Commission for several years. She is the recipient of the Devitt Award for Distinguished Service to the Federal Judiciary and of the ABA’s John Marshall Award for Distinguished Service to the Legal Profession. She and her husband, John, have four children and seven grandchildren.