 Chief Justice Mark Cady |
Mark Cady, who earned his undergraduate and law degrees from Drake University, recently was elected chief justice of the Iowa Supreme Court. He will take office on Jan. 1, 2011.
Cady, of Fort Dodge, has served on the court since 1998. He received his bachelor’s degree from Drake in 1975 and his law degree in 1978, and is a member of the Drake Law School Board of Counselors.
Prior to joining the Iowa Supreme Court, Cady was appointed a district associate judge in 1983 and a district court judge in 1986. In 1994, he was appointed to the Iowa Court of Appeals and elected chief judge of the court in 1997.
Cady also has served as the head of the state judicial nominating commission that screens and selects finalists for the high court. Justice David Wiggins, a 1976 Drake Law School graduate, will take Cady’s place as head of the commission beginning in January.
A member of the Iowa Judges Association and an honorary member of the Iowa Academy of Trial Lawyers, Cady has chaired the Supreme Court’s Task Force on the Court’s and Communities’ Response to Domestic Abuse.
He is the author of “Curbing Litigation Abuse and Misuse: A Judicial Approach,” and the coauthor of “Iowa Practice: Lawyer and Judicial Ethics” and “Preserving the Delicate Balance Between Judicial Accountability and Independence: Merit Selection in the Post-White World.”
Poulson named district judge for northwest Iowa
Iowa Gov. Chet Culver recently named Jeff Poulson, who earned his law degree from Drake in 1976, to a district judge posting.
Poulson, of Sioux City, will serve in Judicial District 3B, a region that includes Sioux, Plymouth, Woodbury, Monona, Ida and Crawford counties.
“It is an honor to appoint Jeff Poulson as an Iowa District Court Judge,” said Culver, who holds a master’s degree from Drake. “Jeff has an outstanding background of leadership in his field, and I thank him for continuing his commitment to justice through service on the Bench.”
After graduating from Drake, Poulson joined the Corbett Law Firm in Sioux City, where he practiced until 2006. He then left to form the Thomas & Poulson firm in Sioux City.