Court of Appeals Judge J. Christopher McNeill has been named the new deputy chief judge of the Court of Appeals.
It’s a role he begins January 1.
Court of Appeals Chief Judge Larry E. Thompson appointed McNeill, who will provide administrative oversight in the event the chief judge is absent.
In a written statement, Thompson noted that McNeill has demonstrated “the leadership, knowledge and professionalism needed to serve as deputy chief Judge of the court.” Thompson and McNeill have served together more than four years.
McNeill succeeds Deputy Chief Judge Pamela R. Goodwine, who was elected to the Supreme Court of Kentucky in November and will begin serving in January.
Of west Kentucky, McNeill was elected from the 1st Appellate District and took office in May 2020 to fill an unexpired term on the Court of Appeals. He was reelected for a full eight-year term in November 2022.
The 1st Division of the 1st Appellate District is comprised of 23 western Kentucky counties: Ballard, Caldwell, Calloway, Carlisle, Christian, Crittenden, Daviess, Fulton, Graves, Henderson, Hickman, Hopkins, Livingston, Logan, Lyon, Marshall, McCracken, McLean, Muhlenberg, Todd, Trigg, Union and Webster.
Previously, McNeill worked in private civil practice and was a staff attorney for the Kentucky Court of Appeals. He later became a directing attorney for the Public Defender’s Office in McCracken County, overseeing more than 70,000 cases across western Kentucky.
He earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in agriculture and organizational communication from Murray State. He completed the Senior Executives in State and Local Government program at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government in 1993 and later received his juris doctor from the Northern Kentucky University Salmon P. Chase College of Law.
He and his wife reside in Paducah and have two sons.
