Full Name: Rosemary Shaw Sackett
Year of Induction: 2015
Rosemary Sackett was appointed to the Iowa Court of Appeals in 1983 and became its Chief Judge in 1999. After chairing the Education Committee of the Council of Chief Judges of the State Courts of Appeal and serving on the Executive Committee, she was elected president in 2000, the first woman to lead the Council. A tireless leader with a calm, friendly manner, she was especially effective in welcoming new chief judges to the Council even before they attended their first conference, thus generating good will that endured over the years.
A graduate of Buena Vista University, she earned her l J.D. degree from Drake University Law School, and received her LL.M. from the University of Virginia Law School. The fourth generation of her family to be become attorneys, she began her law practice with her father, then was the first female lawyer in Spencer, Iowa, and served as a county attorney. After 20 years as a lawyer, she was appointed to the Court of Appeals. She retired from the bench in 2012, the longest-serving judge in the history of the court. In addition to her work on the bench, she was chair of the ABA’s Appellate Judges Conference and Appellate Judges’ Institute, and she advised Bahrain’s Ministry of Justice on ways to improve that country’s appellate system.