Marsha Ternus

The Iowa N.E.W. Leadership Program and the Women's Resource & Action Center at the University of Iowa is honored to announce our 2012 Keynote Speaker:

Marsha Ternus, Former Chief Justus of the Iowa Supreme Court.

Background and Education. Marsha Ternus is a native of Iowa, growing up on a farm in northern Benton County. She received her bachelor’s degree with honors and high distinction, Phi Beta Kappa, from the University of Iowa in 1972. She earned her law degree with honors, Order of the Coif, from Drake University Law School in 1977. While at Drake, Ms. Ternus served as editor-in-chief of the Drake Law Review. She has received honorary degrees from Iowa Wesleyan College (2005), Simpson College (2010), and Coe College (2011). She is admitted to practice law in the State of Iowa (1977) and the State of Arizona (1984, inactive status).

Private Law Practice. After law school, Ms. Ternus worked for sixteen years in the private practice of law in Des Moines, with a primary emphasis on civil litigation and insurance law. While in private practice, she served as president of the Polk County Bar Association, on the Board of Governors of the Iowa State Bar Association, on the Iowa Jury Instructions Committee, and on the Board of Directors of the Polk County Legal Aid Society. Ms. Ternus also served as president of the Board of Counselors of Drake University Law School and on the Drake Law School Endowment Board of Directors. She is a recipient of the Drake University Law School Outstanding Alumnus Award. Ms. Ternus also served several years on the Board of Directors of the Central Iowa Chapter of the American Red Cross and was a participant in the 1983–1984 Greater Des Moines Leadership Institute.

Iowa Supreme Court. Ms. Ternus was appointed to the Iowa Supreme Court in 1993 by Governor Terry Branstad. The members of the court selected her as chief justice in 2006. She was the first woman to serve as chief justice of Iowa’s highest court. Her term on the court expired on December 31, 2010.

During her seventeen years on the court, Justice Ternus worked on a number of court initiatives and other efforts to improve the administration of justice in addition to her adjudicative responsibilities. She served as the judicial branch representative on the IOWAccess Advisory Council, which was instrumental in encouraging and guiding e–government projects. She also led efforts to implement an electronic document management system in the courts that will result in a paperless court system. Justice Ternus served on the judicial team that oversaw the design, development and construction of the Judicial Branch Building. She was also a member of the steering committee of the Iowa Supreme Court Commission on Planning for the 21st Century and served as co-chair of the commission’s administration team.

During her time as chief justice, Chief Justice Ternus encouraged court efforts to improve access to justice. In collaboration with Iowa Legal Aid, the court took steps to persuade Iowa lawyers to provide more pro bono services to persons who could not afford an attorney. The court also adopted rules to facilitate lawyers in providing unbundled legal services and organized a task force to study civil justice reform.

As chief justice, Chief Justice Ternus made the improvement of court oversight of child welfare cases a priority for the Iowa Judicial Branch. To this end, she led an effort to form and then chaired the State Children’s Justice Council, which consists of representatives of the judicial branch, state agencies and private entities involved in the child welfare system. The council works collaboratively to institute reforms and improvements in the Iowa courts’ processing of child welfare cases to minimize the time children spend in the foster care system. Chief Justice Ternus also served on the planning committee that organized a national summit on the protection of children in 2009.

Chief Justice Ternus served on the Board of Directors of the Conference of Chief Justices and was a member of the Conference’s Courts, Children and Families Committee. In addition, she chaired the Conference’s Court Management Committee and its Resolutions Committee. In 2009, United States Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts appointed Chief Justice Ternus to the Judicial Conference Committee on Federal-State Jurisdiction, where she was one of only four state supreme court justices serving on the committee. During her time on the court, she also served on the Multi-State Performance Test Policy Committee of the National Conference of Bar Examiners and chaired the Law School Task Force of the Drake University National Commission II.

Recent Professional Endeavors. Ms. Ternus currently practices law in Des Moines, with a focus on appellate case consulting, arbitration, and mediation. She is a member of the American Bar Association’s Bar Admissions Committee and the American Academy of ADR Attorneys, and participates in the C. Edwin Moore Inn of the American Inns of Court. Ms. Ternus also serves on the Drake University Board of Trustees.

Ms. Ternus has been honored with the 2011 Outstanding Contribution to the Well-Being of Children & Youth Award from Youth & Shelter Services, Inc., the 2011 Louise Noun Civil Liberties Award from the Iowa ACLU, and the first annual award for outstanding contributions to the welfare of children given by the Children’s Justice Initiative.

She is a frequent lecturer on various subjects, including judicial independence, judicial selection and retention, and the politicization of the judiciary. Her article, Do Americans Still Value an Independent Judiciary?, appeared in the 2011 edition of The Book of the States, a publication of The Council of State Governments.