Appellate Judicial Commission seeks applicants for Sheffield vacancy on Missouri Court of Appeals, Southern District

7 July 2025

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – The Appellate Judicial Commission is accepting applications for judge of the Missouri Court of Appeals, Southern District, to fill the vacancy created by the July 25, 2025, retirement of Judge Mary W. Sheffield after more than 42 years of judicial service.

Sheffield earned her bachelor’s degree from North Carolina State University in Raleigh, North Carolina, and her law degree from the University of Miami in Florida. She worked in the private practice of law in Miami, Florida, and Salem, Missouri, before opening her solo practice in Rolla. She first was elected to the bench in November 1982, serving first as an associate circuit judge in Phelps County from 1983 through 2004 and then as a circuit judge in the 25th Judicial Circuit (Maries, Phelps, Pulaski and Texas counties) from 2005 until December 2012, when she was appointed to the appeals court. Sheffield served as the circuit’s presiding judge in 2004 and 2010 and the Southern District’s chief judge from July 2015 through June 2017. She remains one of only three United States liaison network judges for the Hague Convention on International Child Abduction.

Citizens are encouraged to nominate well-qualified candidates for the commission’s consideration. The Missouri Constitution requires that a judge of the Missouri Court of Appeals be at least 30 years old, licensed to practice law in Missouri, a United States citizen for at least 15 years and a qualified Missouri voter for at least nine years next preceding selection. Nominations should be submitted no later than noon Friday, August 1, 2025, to the commission by e-mail at SDJudgeVacancy@courts.mo.gov, or by postal mail to Appellate Judicial Commission, Missouri Court of Appeals Vacancy, Post Office Box 150, Jefferson City, MO 65102. The nomination form is available below.

Public nomination form: Word | PDF

Applications will be accepted until 5 p.m. Wednesday, August 6, 2025. Interested persons may access the application materials below.

The commission has reserved Monday and Tuesday, August 25 and 26, 2025, at the Hotel Vandivort, 305 East Walnut Street, in Springfield to interview applicants for this vacancy and select a panel of three nominees for the governor’s consideration. The interviews will be open to the public. The names of applicants to be interviewed as well as information relating to the number and characteristics of all applicants will be released publicly prior to the interviews.

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Note: Links to application materials typically are disabled after the application deadline closes.

Contact: Beth S. Riggert

Communications Counsel

Supreme Court of Missouri

(573) 751-3676

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