INDIANAPOLIS —After 24 years as chief justice of the Indiana Supreme Court, Evansville native Randall Shepard is retiring, he announced Wednesday morning.
The 64-year-old Shepard, who is Indiana’s 99th chief justice, is the longest-serving leader of a state’s high court in the nation.
“To say the justice system is stronger today because of Chief Justice Shepard’s three decades of dedication would be an understatement,” said Mary McQueen, president of the National Center for State Courts.
“He defined ‘justice’ not only for the citizens of Indiana and the United States — Chief Justice Shepard defined ‘justice’ for our generation.”
He was appointed to Indiana’s Supreme Court in 1985 by Republican Gov. Robert Orr, who then named him chief justice in 1987.
Over the course of his career, he has authored 68 law review articles and more than 900 opinions. He spearheaded court modernization efforts such as the webcasting of its oral arguments and plain English instructions for juries.
Shepard has played a role in Indiana’s policy discussions outside the courts, too.
In 2007, along with former Gov. Joe Kernan, he chaired a blue-ribbon panel that studied methods of local government reform and ended with 27 proposals – some of which have been enacted in law.
In the realm of education, Shepard has worked as an adjunct professor at the law schools at Yale University, Indiana University in Bloomington, and Indiana University in Indianapolis.
He also was behind the idea that led the Evansville Vanderburgh School Corp. to create the Shepard Academy, a half-day program for high school students that pairs them with mentors, many of which are in the legal community.
For this work, Shepard has received awards such as the American Judicature Society’s Opperman Award, the Indiana Chamber of Commerce’s government leader of the year and the Indiana Black Expo’s lifetime achievement award.
Shepard has held a number of positions with national and state organizations. He was president of the Conference of Chief Justices and chairman of the National Center for State Courts.
“He led efforts to hold two national conferences on court security, he supported a national summit to improve the courts’ handling of child protection cases, and following Hurricane Katrina he endorsed the creation of an online clearinghouse to help devastated courts in the Gulf States,” McQueen said.
“These accomplishments were in addition to his ongoing efforts to fight for issues he was passionate about: protecting judicial independence, improving judicial selection, and revising the judicial model code.”
Shepard’s retirements is effective in March 2012. Since he heads the Indiana Judicial Nominating Commission, he will have a hand in choosing his successor. That panel interviews applicants and sends three choices to Gov. Mitch Daniels, who will pick the one.