Judge Judy P. Draper

JUDGE JUDY P. DRAPER – DIVISION 41

Judge Draper was appointed Associate Circuit Judge on April 13, 2004.

Judy P. Draper attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Bachelors in
Labor Relations (1977) and a J. D. from Howard University School of Law (1980) Law Journal honors. She clerked for the U.S. Dept. of Labor, Office of Administrative Judges, Washington, D.C.

She is a former Prosecutor for the City of St. Louis; and Adjunct Professor of pre-trial practice at
Washington University School of Law. She was also the first female General Counsel for the
Missouri Department of Corrections; Law Clerk to late Federal District Court Judge Clyde S. Cahill; Municipal Judge for the municipalities of Northwoods and Berkeley while in Private Practice in Civil, Criminal and Domestic (both Federal and State) prior to her appointment to the Bench. She is on the Board of the St. Louis Transitional Hope House and former member of the Board of the United Way and the Korean American Association.

She was appointed to the serve on the National Consortium on Racial & Ethnic Fairness in the Courts Host & Program Committee (2017) and convened a law forum on the Ferguson issue. She was appointed by the Missouri Supreme Court to serve as an ABA Delegate and appointed to the Missouri Task Force on the Future of the Legal Profession. (2016). Judge Draper selected to attend National Judicial College Leadership Program, 2016, 2017. She was formerly appointed by the Missouri Supreme Court to sit on the Education Committee for the Missouri Municipal and Associate Circuit Judges Association and served as member of the Regional Disciplinary Committee for St. Louis County and as County Condemnation Commissioner prior to becoming an Associate Circuit Judge

Judge Draper is a founding member of the Missouri Asian American Bar Association (“MAABA”) and
served as President from 1999 through 2003 and started the annual “Unity Dinner.” She has served Bar Associations including Mound City Bar Association, Missouri Asian American Bar Association, National Bar Association, National Asian Pacific American Bar Association Law Foundation; National Association of Woman Judges, the Women Lawyers Association, Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis, the Kansas City Bar Association; St. Louis County Bar Association, and the American Bar Association.

She is married to George W. Draper III, Supreme Court Judge and they have one daughter, an attorney, Washington University Law School and Kings College, London, Masters International Law. Judge Draper attends Covenant Community Church.

Judge Draper has received the following awards and recognitions.

2011 Theodore McMillian Judicial Excellence Award; Excellence in Service Award for Outstanding
Women for Justice; St. Louis Metro Yes I Can- Jewel of the Community Award.
2012 Torch Bearer Award, Missouri Asian American Bar Association; Negro Woman’s Council Community Service Award.
2013 YWCA Outstanding Service Award
2013 YWCA “Judge Judy Draper Beating the Odds Award” awarded to YWCA
recipients yearly.
2014 NAACP Medgar Evers Legal Legends Award.
2015 YWCA Metro St. Louis 2015 Leader of Distinction in the area of Law.