Hon. Janice M. Holder (Ret.)

Janice Holder began her legal career in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, as a judicial clerk for the Honorable Herbert P. Sorg, Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania. At the conclusion of her clerkship in 1977, she entered into private practice in Pittsburgh. She served as the solicitor for the Borough of McDonald, Pennsylvania, her hometown, for one year before moving to Memphis, Tennessee, where she practiced law for ten years.

Janice was elected judge of the Circuit Court of Shelby County, Tennessee, in 1990. In 1993, she was appointed the coordinating judge of the silicone gel breast implant cases in West Tennessee by the Tennessee Supreme Court. She served as a member of the National Conference of Chief Justices Mass Tort Litigation Committee and the Silicone Gel Breast Implant Subcommittee and was appointed the subcommittee’s chair in 1996. 

She also served on the Tennessee Supreme Court as a special justice during its November 1994 session.

In 1996, she was appointed to the Tennessee Supreme Court by Governor Don Sundquist, and in 2008, she became the first woman to serve as Chief Justice of the Court. Justice Holder was a member of the Board of Directors and Second Vice President of the Conference of Chief Justices in 2011. She retired from the Supreme Court on September 1, 2014, after nearly twenty-four years of judicial service.

She currently serves as an alternative dispute resolution neutral and has been appointed as both a special master and a special judge. She is listed as a Tennessee Supreme Court Rule 31 General Civil Mediator. In 2016, she joined the American Arbitration Association National Roster of Arbitrators and in 2018 on the AAA Master Mediator Panel in 2022. Janice.was a co-founder of the Memphis ADR American Inn of Court and currently serves as its president.

• Allegheny College, Meadville, Pennsylvania, 1967–1968
• University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 1968–1971 (B.S, summa cum laude,University Scholar)
• University of Pittsburgh Program, Rouen, France, 1970
• University of Paris, the Sorbonne, summer session, 1970 (highest honors)
• Duquesne University School of Law, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 1972–1975 (J.D.1975)
• Duquesne Law Review, 1973–1975; Recent Decisions Editor, 1974–1975
• Tulane University Summer Session, Grenoble, France, 1974

• American Bar Association Lawyer Impairment Project, vice chair, 1987
  Judicial Administration Division, Standing Committee on Pro Bono and Public Service Data Collection Advisory Group, 2011–2013
  Judges’ Working Group, Resource Center for Access to Justice Initiatives, 2011–2013
  Judicial and Court Leadership Working Group, 2011–2013
• Commission on Lawyer Assistance Programs (CoLAP), 2016-17, Advisory Committee, 2015-2016
• American Bar Foundation
• American Inns of Court, Leo Bearman, Sr. American Inn of Court, Emeritus Member
• Association for Women Attorneys Treasurer, 1989, Vice president, 1991
• Memphis ADR American Inn of Court, co-founder 2018, Treasurer, 2019-2021, President, 2021-present.

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