Official Portrait Of Deputy Chief Justice Mary C. Noble To Be Dedicated At State Capitol

The portrait of Honorable Mary C. Noble will be presented to the Supreme Court of Kentucky at a dedication ceremony at 2:00 P.M. on Thursday, December 7, 2017.  Honorable Elizabeth Lee Thompson, chair of the resolution committee, will make the presentation to the Court.  The portrait will hang in the corridors of the second floor of the Capitol Building.

After serving fifteen years as a Fayette Circuit Court Judge, Mary C. Noble was elected to the Supreme Court from the Fifth Supreme Court District, which comprises, Fayette, Franklin, Scott, Woodford, Bourbon, Clark, Madison, Jessamine, Boyle, Mercer and Anderson Counties in 2006.  She was re-elected to the Supreme Court unopposed in 2008.  In 2010, Chief Justice John Minton appointed her Deputy Chief Justice.  In 2011, she became the first woman to preside at the Supreme Court of Kentucky in a case in which the Chief Justice was recused.

Deputy Chief Justice Noble obtained her undergraduate degree, majoring in English, and her Master’s degree, majoring in Psychology, from Austin Peay State University in Clarksville, TN.  A native of Breathitt County, Kentucky, she graduated from Breathitt County High School, and attended Lees Junior College before transferring to Austin Peay after her marriage to Larry Noble in 1968.

In 1971, she began her professional career by teaching English at Montgomery Central High School in Montgomery County, TN.  After obtaining her Master’s degree, she served as a guidance counselor at Columbia Military Academy and later as a Psychology instructor at Columbia State Community College in Columbia, TN.  She returned to Kentucky to attend the University of Kentucky College of Law in 1979, and graduated in December, 1981.

Deputy Chief Justice Noble began her legal practice at the law firm of Bryan and Fogle in Mt. Sterling, Kentucky, in 1982, where she primarily practiced school law and insurance defense.  In 1983, she began a general litigation practice in Lexington, Kentucky, continuing to represent school boards and doing civil plaintiff’s cases and criminal defense.  She also served as Domestic Relations Commissioner for Fayette Circuit Court, Third Division, for two years until her election to the circuit bench in 1991.  She served as Chief Judge of the Fayette Circuit Court and the region, the first woman to serve in such a capacity in the over 200 year history of Fayette Circuit Court.

In 1996, Deputy Chief Justice Noble, Chief Justice Minton and District Judge Henry Webber established the Court of Justice Drug program.  She presided as a Drug Court judge for ten years.  She has also served on the Board of the National Association of Drug Court Professionals, is a member of the organization’s Hall of Fame, and has been invited to speak about Drug Court-related topics throughout the country.

Deputy Chief Justice Noble chaired the Civil Rules Committee, the family Court Rules Committee, and the Juvenile Court Rules Committee.  She led efforts to draft the first statewide Family Court Rules of Practice and Procedure and the Juvenile Rules of Practice and Procedure.

Justice Noble retired the Supreme Court of Kentucky in December 2016 and is currently engaged in a mediation and arbitration practice in Lexington.