Chief Judge Gregory R. Schaaf was appointed to the bench October 1, 2012 and became Chief Judge October 1, 2019.  He graduated from the University of Kentucky College of Law in 1991, where he was Order of the Coif and a member of the National Moot Court Team, the Moot Court Board, and the Journal of Mineral Law and Policy.  Judge Schaaf also received a B.B. degree in Accounting and a B.S. degree in Law Enforcement Administration from Western Illinois University in 1984 with high honors. 

Judge Schaaf is a Fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy (Class Twenty-One 2010) and is certified in Business Bankruptcy Law and Consumer Bankruptcy Law by the American Board of Certification.   He is also a CPA and worked as a solicitor in London, England, from 1997-1999, handling corporate matters and real estate transactions for English, Russian, and American clients. 

Judge Schaaf's legal practice included commercial reorganizations, including bankruptcies and workouts, and commercial transactions, including energy-related matters.  He represented debtors, creditors’ committees, trustees and individual creditors.