OFFICE ADDRESS
Potter Stewart U.S. Courthouse, Room 810
100 East Fifth Street
Cincinnati, OH 45202
Phone: (513) 564-7610

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
The Honorable Sandra S. Beckwith was appointed by President George H.W. Bush to the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio on February 21, 1992. On September 1, 2004, Judge Beckwith became the first woman Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio. She also serves on the Defender Services Committee of the United States Judicial Conference.

Judge Beckwith was born in Norfolk, Virginia, in 1943 while her father served in the United States Navy. She returned to Cincinnati with her parents in 1947 and has remained here. She is a graduate of the University of Cincinnati McMicken College of Arts and Sciences in 1965. She attended the University of Cincinnati William Howard Taft College of Law and received a Juris Doctorate degree in 1968 with honors (Betty Kuhn Memorial Prize - top woman graduate).

Judge Beckwith's career started in a private law practice with her father, Charles L. Shank, in Harrison, Ohio. In 1977, she was appointed and then elected as the first woman to the Hamilton County Municipal Court. From 1979 to 1981 she returned to private practice with her father.

In 1982 she was re-elected to the Hamilton County Municipal Court. In 1987 she was the first woman elected to the Court of Common Pleas, Division of Domestic Relations. In 1989 she was the first woman appointed to be a Member of the Board of County Commissioners of Hamilton County, Ohio, by Governor James A. Rhodes. She was elected in 1990 as the first woman Member of the Board of County Commissioners of Hamilton County, Ohio. She was elected President of the Board of County Commissioners in 1990 by her fellow Commissioners, the first woman to hold the office. While serving as County Commissioner, she also practiced law with the firm of Graydon, Head & Ritchey from 1989 to 1992.

Judge Beckwith has served on numerous boards including United Way of Cincinnati, Great Rivers Girl Scout Council, National Association of Women Judges, U.C. College of Law Alumni, U.C. Friends of Women's Studies, U.C. College of Law Board of Visitors, and the Red Cross. She remains an ex-officio member of the U.C. College of Law Board of Visitors. She currently serves on the Tender Mercies, Inc., Advisory Board and chairs the Board of the Collaborative Law Center, promoting an innovative approach to alternative dispute resolution.

She has been a member of numerous legal organizations and remains a member of the Federal Judges Association, the American Judges Association, American Judicature Society and the Federal Circuit Bar Association. She currently serves locally on the Federal Bar Association Executive Committee.

In the past Judge Beckwith has spearheaded efforts to enact and enforce laws prohibiting domestic violence. As both a Judge and County Commissioner, she worked to ensure effective enforcement of child support laws. She remains vitally interested in issues affecting families.