JUDGE McKAY CHAUVIN (ret.) Jefferson County Court administator
Judge McKay Chauvin (Ret.) is a graduate of Vanderbilt University (BA, 1986) and the Georgetown University Law Center (JD, 1989). Prior to being appointed to the Jefferson Circuit Court bench in 2004, he spent ten years as an Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney in Jefferson County, Kentucky where he was the Chief of the Capital Crimes and Special Prosecutions Units. In 1999 he joined the Office of the United States Attorney for the Western District of Kentucky as an Assistant United States Attorney where, as the designated Violent Crimes Coordinator, he developed the nationally recognized “Project Backfire” anti-gun violence strategy.
Having earned a reputation among those who appeared before him for his keen intellect, tireless work ethic, and wry sense of humor, Judge Chauvin created the S.M.A.R.T. Probation program (a comprehensive strategy which promotes success on probation by addressing a person’s needs through Supervision, Motivation, Accountability, Responsibility and Treatment); the KYC-11 initiative (a docket management system designed to ensure due process of law and a speedy trial/disposition of criminal charges as guaranteed under Section 11 of the Kentucky Constitution), the Jefferson Courtroom Upgrade Project (a capital improvement venture through which a state of the art audiovisual trial presentation system was developed and installed in the Circuit Court courtrooms), and the Division Eight Little Library at the Jefferson County Judicial Center, through which he gave away more than 700 books. He was selected by his colleagues in 2013 to serve as Chief Judge and has been recognized with the Distinguished Service Award by the Louisville Bar Association, and as Member of the Year by the Jefferson County Women Lawyers Association. He has served on the Board of Directors of the Louisville Bar Foundation, the Kentucky Bar Foundation, the Jefferson County Public Law Library, the Racial Justice Commission, Volunteers of America Mid-States, and the Restorative Justice Advisory Counsel. Judge Chauvin retired from the Jefferson Circuit Court in 2022, but returned to the courthouse in 2023 as the Court Administrator while continuing to teach trial practice as an Adjunct Professor of Law at the Louis D. Brandeis School of Law at the University of Louisville. He was honored with the Dean’s Service Award in 2017, and is the author of the Trial Practice Makes Perfict* workbook , and View From the Bench: How Way Down There Looks From Way Up Here. Judge Chauvin is married to Laura Ponte Chauvin, a non-profit consultant to philanthropic organizations and individuals. She is also the Founder of Her Best Foot Forward, a non-profit organization which empowers women and facilitates the provision of menstrual hygiene products and health education in East Africa. They live in Louisville where they have raised three children, six dogs, and one very fat pig. * Yes - "Perfect" is misspelled. That was on purpose. It is intended to be ironic. If you don't get the joke, then the book is probably not for you. |