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Judges' Info

Judge Tracey N. Wise was appointed United States Bankruptcy Judge for the Eastern District of Kentucky on March 31, 2010.  She served as Chief Judge from October 1, 2011 until September 30, 2019.  

Judge Wise was appointed to the Sixth Circuit Bankruptcy Appellate Panel in 2016, and was elevated to Chief Judge on October 1, 2019.

Judge Wise is a 1980 graduate of Indiana University (B.A., Phi Beta Kappa, Magna Cum Laude) and a 1983 graduate of the Indiana University School of Law (J.D., Order of the Coif) where she served as a Note Editor for the Indiana Law Journal (1982-1983). 

Judge Wise is a Fellow in the American College of Bankruptcy (12th Class - 2001), a member of the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges and has served as the bankruptcy representative on various U.S. District Court (EDKY) and Sixth Circuit Committees.

Prior to her appointment, Judge Wise practiced in the areas of bankruptcy and debt restructuring, served on numerous court-appointed committees, chaired the Bankruptcy Sections of the Fayette County and Kentucky Bar Associations, served as a Trustee of the Kentucky Bar Association Client’s Security Fund and was a member of the Board of Directors of the Lexington Affiliate of the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Breast Cancer Foundation. 


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.