Judge John Michael Guidry Makes History

On 19 January 2023 Judge John Michael Guidry of East Baton Rouge Parish, LA was sworn in as the 15th Chief Judge of the Louisiana First Circuit Court of Appeal. Judge Guidry is the first African-American Chief Judge in the more than 100-year history of the Louisiana Circuit Court of Appeal. The First Circuit serves sixteen parishes in south Louisiana.

Born in Baton Rouge on 19 January 1962, Judge Guidry graduated from McKinley High School in 1980 and from Louisiana State University in 1983 with a B.A. in Political Science. In 1987 he graduated cum laude from the Southern University Law Center in Baton Rouge with his Juris Doctor.

Prior to serving on the judicial bench, Judge Guidry served as a Legislative Assistant and Assistant Clerk in the Louisiana House of Representatives. He also was an Assistant Parish Attorney for East Baton Rouge Parish. In 1991 he was elected to the Louisiana House of Representatives and two years later to the Louisiana Senate.

In 1997 Judge Guidry was elected to the First Circuit Court of Appeals where he has served to the present.

He has also served as a commissioner to the Greater Baton Rouge Port Commission and the Greater Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport Commission. Since 1988, he has been an Adjunct Professor at the Southern University Law Center. He holds memberships in several judicial organizations including the American Judges Association, the Judicial Council of the National Bar Association and Louisiana Conference of Appeal Judges. In 2014 Judge Guidry served as President of the Louisiana Judicial College Board of Governors.

Judge Guidry is an ordained minister. He and his wife Carol have two children.