Susan Kay Christensen (born April 27, 1962) is the chief justice of the

Iowa Supreme Court The Iowa Supreme Court is the highest court in the U.S. state of Iowa. The Court is composed of a Chief Justice and six Associate Justices. The Court holds its regular sessions in Des Moines in the Iowa Judicial Branch Building located at 1111 E ...

Education

Christensen received an undergraduate degree in

psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries betwe ...

from Judson University, where she was

valedictorian Valedictorian is an academic title for the highest-performing student of a graduating class of an academic institution. The valedictorian is commonly determined by a numerical formula, generally an academic institution's grade point average (GPA ...

and graduated with highest honors. She then received a

Juris Doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice law ...

degree cum laude from

Creighton University School of Law Creighton University School of Law, located in Omaha, Nebraska, United States, is a component of the Jesuit Creighton University. According to Creighton's official 2019 ABA-required disclosures, 75% of the Class of 2019 obtained full-time, long-t ...

Legal career

She practiced law in Harlan, Iowa at the firm Larson, Childs, Hall & Christensen from 1991 to 2003, specializing in family law. She then worked as a

sole practitioner A sole practitioner or solo practitioner is a professional, such as a lawyer or an architect, who practices independently. For instance a sole practitioner's law firm may include non-lawyer support personnel but does not include any other lawyers. ...

specializing in family law from 2003 to 2007. She was also a

prosecutor A prosecutor is a legal representative of the prosecution in states with either the common law adversarial system or the Civil law (legal system), civil law inquisitorial system. The prosecution is the legal party responsible for presenting the ...

, working as an assistant county attorney for Shelby County from 1991 to 2007, for Harrison County from 1996 to 2007, and for Crawford County in 2007.

State court service

Christensen was an associate judge for the Iowa Fourth Judicial District from 2007 to 2015 then a district judge for the same district from 2015 until her appointment to the Iowa Supreme Court.

Appointment to Iowa Supreme Court

Christensen was one of three finalists sent to the Governor for consideration after the retirement of

Bruce B. Zager Bruce B. Zager (born December 11, 1952) is a former justice of the Iowa Supreme Court. Education Zager was born and raised in Waterloo, Iowa. Zager was a high school classmate of David L. Baker, who he eventually replaced on the Iowa Supreme ...

. In August 2018 Governor

Kim Reynolds Kimberly Kay Reynolds (née Strawn; born August 4, 1959) is an American politician serving as the 43rd governor of Iowa since 2017. A member of the Republican Party, Reynolds served as the 46th lieutenant governor of Iowa from 2011 to 2017. Bef ...

appointed Christensen to the Iowa Supreme Court. On September 21, 2018, she was sworn into office. Christensen is Reynolds' first appointment to the Iowa Supreme Court. She became the first female since 2011 and the third female overall to join the court. On February 24, 2020, she was selected to be the chief justice of the Iowa Supreme Court, following the death of

Mark Cady Mark Steven Cady (July 12, 1953 – November 15, 2019) was an American jurist. He served on the Iowa Supreme Court for 21 years from 1998 to 2019. From 2011 to 2019, he was the chief justice of the court. He was the author of the court's opinion i ...

Personal life

Christensen was born and raised in Harlan, Iowa. Her father was former justice

Jerry L. Larson Jerry Leroy Larson (May 17, 1936 – April 25, 2018) was an American judge who served as an associate justice of the Iowa Supreme Court from 1978 to 2008. Background Larson was born in Harlan, Iowa on May 17, 1936. He received his bachelor's an ...

who served on the Iowa Supreme Court from 1978 to 2008. Her brother Jeffrey Larson is a judge of the Iowa Fourth Judicial District. She is a registered Republican.

References

External links

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Iowa Supreme Court profile
, - 1962 births 20th-century American lawyers 20th-century American women lawyers 21st-century American judges 21st-century American women judges Chief Justices of the Iowa Supreme Court Creighton University School of Law alumni Iowa Republicans Iowa state court judges Justices of the Iowa Supreme Court Judson University alumni Living people People from Harlan, Iowa Women chief justices of state supreme courts in the United States {{Iowa-state-judge-stub