Missouri Supreme Court clerk Betsy Ledgerwood named Woman of the Year

Summary

• Betsy Ledgerwood named 2026 Woman of the Year
• First woman to serve as Missouri Supreme Court clerk
• Oversees operations across Missouri’s judicial system
• Serves as liaison between judiciary and other government branches

Betsy Ledgerwood, clerk of the Missouri Supreme Court and the first woman to hold the role, has been named Missouri Lawyers Media’s 2026 Woman of the Year. 

Ledgerwood has served as clerk since January 2017 after joining the court in 2012, rising through roles in government relations and legal counsel. In her current position, she oversees not only the Supreme Court’s internal operations but also plays a central role across Missouri’s entire judiciary.

Her responsibilities extend far beyond what the title might suggest.

“I’m the CEO of a corporation with probably 3,500 employees with operations throughout the state,” Ledgerwood said. “The court’s my board of directors … that’s probably the best analogy that I can give.”

On any given day, her work can range from personnel management and budgeting to coordinating with other branches of government.

“I never really know … I had NASA call one day and ask if they could be on the front steps during the eclipse,” she said. “I mean, there might be an HR problem, or I present the budget to the General Assembly, work with the governor’s office … talk to judges across the state daily.”

Ledgerwood grew up in Alton, a small rural town near the Missouri-Arkansas border with a population of roughly 500. She knew early on she wanted a different path.

“I’m originally from Alton, Missouri, which is an incredibly small town … so it was very rural,” she said. “I really wanted to do anything that got me out of home.

She began her college career at William Woods University before transferring to the University of Missouri, where she pursued journalism with a focus on public relations, a decision shaped in part by her long-term goal of attending law school.

After graduating, she enrolled in law school at the University of Missouri, where she also completed a master’s degree in health administration in the medical school at the same time. That experience, however, was not without challenges.

“I hated it,” Ledgerwood said of law school. “You feel like you’re smart, or like you’re driven, or you have a lot of skills, and all of a sudden you’re in a pool with people with a lot of the exact same skills. I … really felt a little at sea during that experience.”

She said she struggled with confidence in an environment filled with similarly high-achieving peers but ultimately completed both degrees in 2000 and passed the bar, despite initially questioning whether she wanted to practice law at all.

“I had no intention of practicing law,” she said. “I remember not even wanting to take the bar.”

However, at her parents’ insistence, she went on to take and pass the Bar before beginning her career in consulting with a company in Columbia, where she worked for about six months before transitioning into lobbying.

“I got a call from a lobbying firm who I’d done a summer internship with, who said, ‘Hey, you know, term limits was getting ready to kick in.’ They wanted to up their lobbyist-to-legislator ratio, and they didn’t have a lawyer in the firm, and asked if I wanted to come back,” she said.

She spent close to 11 years as a lobbyist, which she described as “a lot of walking and talking and drinking coffee.”

“There’s a lot of adrenaline, you know … (I’m) not great at walking, but talking … some of my better skills,” Ledgerwood said, “but that life is all-consuming from a time perspective.”

In 2012, she joined the Court as the commission counsel for the Judicial Finance Committee and legislative liaison. Nine months later, she was reclassified as director of government relations and deputy counsel.

Ledgerwood’s move from the private sector to state government marked a turning point in her career, one driven by both personal consideration and professional ones.

“Not a lot of people go from the private sector into government work … At the time, I had been a single mother … and really kind of wanted to focus on family,” she said. “(I) just decided that was time I would not get back … (I) had no intention or thought that it would turn into being clerk.”

Over time, her curiosity about the court’s work and operations helped position her for advancement.

“I just was really curious … and would kind of be in here all the time asking questions,” she said.

When her predecessor, Bill Thompson, retired in 2017, the court selected her to serve as clerk.

As clerk, Ledgerwood’s responsibilities extend beyond the Supreme Court building, encompassing administrative oversight of Missouri’s entire judicial system. The role includes supervising the Office of State Courts Administrator and coordinating with courts and judges statewide, in addition to managing internal court functions. The office handles inquiries and procedural requests from attorneys across the state, manages the docketing and scheduling of cases, maintains case files, processes fees and oversees the publication of court opinions.

Much of the job, she said, cannot be easily captured in a job description. That complexity is compounded by the judiciary’s unique position within government.

“You could never read about this job or see a job description, and there’s a lot of it that I just can’t even talk about,” she said. “It’s sort of the secrets of the court … The judiciary is the most sort of … mysterious branch.”

Her role frequently places her at the intersection of Missouri’s three branches of government, requiring her to navigate between differing priorities, perspectives and responsibilities.

Among her most serious duties is overseeing death penalty cases as the court’s clerk.

“I’m the death clerk, and so that work can be pretty heavy. Consistencies just among policies. You make a decision in time, maybe on a wage issue, and then there’s these 50 unintended consequences,” she said. “Or how do you apply the same set of facts.”

Regarding the death penalty, “If there’s an execution that night, I’m here,” she said. “I’m talking to the federal courts and the U.S. Supreme Court.”

That work, she said, requires a high level of precision and responsibility.

“You want it to be right or nothing to go wrong on our end,” she said.

The position also carries other significant pressures, including maintaining strict neutrality in both professional and personal contexts.

“When I go home and talk to my kids like, ‘What did you do today?’ We’re not allowed to have a political affiliation … Or express opinion,” she said. “Even when my kids come home and they’re like, ‘Who should I vote for?’”

At times, serving as a conduit between branches can be difficult.

“I’m really the communication between the court and the other two branches, and that can be challenging just because they think in different ways, and their roles are so different,” she said. “You being the messenger just ensures you’re shot by both sides.”

The job can also be isolating.

“(There’s) not a lot of similarity in my work with, and even among other clerks across the country … It can be kind of lonely in that way. And even the judges you can be friendly with, but at the end of the day, you know, they can hire and fire you.”

Outside of work, Ledgerwood said she values time with her family and enjoys activities that provide a sense of completion, something her professional role rarely offers.

“I will decorate anything to within an inch of its life,” she said, noting her involvement in restoration efforts within the court building.

She is also an avid reader and a fan of college basketball, particularly during March Madness.

Ledgerwood has four children — three daughters and a son — and said maintaining perspective between work and home has been essential.

“I used to laugh and say that every time the court annoyed me, I had another kid,” she said. “I’m happy to come here in the mornings, and I’m very happy to leave here and go home in the afternoon.”

Ledgerwood said being named Woman of the Year came as a surprise. Still, she said she is making an effort to fully appreciate the recognition.

“My initial thought was, they’ve run out of people to give it to,” she said. “I’m really trying to sit in the moment of it and just like, say thank you.”

Reflecting on her career, Ledgerwood emphasized the role others have played in her success.

“I’m very grateful … for the people who got me here, men and women, quite frankly, who saw something in me that I probably didn’t see,” she said. “I’ve just had an amazing career filled with amazing people. That’s the most important part to me.”

After more than a decade at the Supreme Court and nearly nine years as clerk, Ledgerwood said she has not set a definitive endpoint for her career.

“I remember the first time that ever occurred to me was Chris Koster was attorney general, and we had gotten to know each other, and he came into my office and put his boots up on my desk and asked, ‘What are you going to do? You’re sort of capstone at 40,’” Ledgerwood said. “And I had never really thought about it in that way. But this is hard to beat.”

For now, she plans to continue in the role as long as she is able.

“(I’m) sticking around as long as they keep me,” she said.