Patricia Breckenridge
Supreme Court of Missouri
Patricia Breckenridge was born in Nevada, Mo. She received her B.S. in Agricultural Economics with honors and J.D. from the University of Missouri-Columbia. Following law school, she returned to Nevada to practice law in the firm of Russell, Brown, Bickel & Breckenridge. While practicing, she served as assistant municipal judge for the city of Nevada. In 1982, she was appointed associate circuit judge of Vernon County. She was elected to that position until 1990, when she was appointed to the Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District. There, she served as Chief Judge from 1998 to 2000.
Judge Breckenridge was appointed to the Supreme Court of Missouri in September 2007. As Chief Justice from July 2015 to June 2017, she was committed to improving the administration of justice and instrumental in establishing the Supreme Court’s Committee on Practice and Procedures in Municipal Division Cases, Commission on Racial and Ethnic Fairness, Task Force on Criminal Justice, Commission on Civil Justice Reform, and the Partnership for Child Safety and Well-being, and the adoption of Uniform Standards for Missouri Juvenile Officers. She continues to serve as liaison to these groups in addition to the Supreme Court’s Family Court Committee.
