Judge Jones was first elected judge for the Kentucky Court of Appeals in November 2014 to serve Division 1 of the 6th Appellate District. She was appointed to that position in July 2013 to fill a vacancy created by the appointment of Justice Michelle Keller to the Supreme Court of Kentucky. District 6 is composed of 21 counties: Bath, Boone, Bracken, Campbell, Carroll, Fleming, Gallatin, Grant, Harrison, Henry, Kenton, Lewis, Mason, Nicholas, Oldham, Owen, Pendleton, Robertson, Shelby, Spencer and Trimble.
Since taking the bench, Judge Jones has been active in Court administration in an effort to improve the appellate system for litigants, counsel and the general public. Judge Jones has served as Chief Judge Pro Tempore since 2019. She also serves as Chair of the Court’s Personnel and Administrative Order Committees and is a member the Judicial Compensation Commission, the Court Facilities Standards Committee, and the Court of Appeals’ e-filing work group. She previously served on the Court’s Education Committee. She is a member of the Kentucky Bar Association, the Northern Kentucky Bar Association, and the Salmon P. Chase Inn of Court. Judge Jones is a frequent speaker at various judicial education seminars and programs throughout the state.
Prior to serving on the Court of Appeals, Judge Jones presided over workers’ compensation claims as an administrative law judge for the Commonwealth of Kentucky. She also served as a staff attorney for the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky for more than five years. She was also a former law clerk for U.S. District Court Judge John G. Heyburn II of the Western District of Kentucky.
Before her judicial service in federal and state courts, Judge Jones practiced at Stites & Harbison PLLC, the oldest law firm in Kentucky, where she specialized in complex business litigation and intellectual property matters. Immediately after graduating from law school, Judge Jones practiced at Fenwick & West in Palo Alto, Calif., as an intellectual property litigation attorney.
Judge Jones earned her juris doctor from the University of Kentucky College of Law where she graduated with magna cum laude honors. She was elected to the Order of the Coif, an organization reserved for students ranked in the top 10 percent of their class at the time of graduation. She was a member of the Kentucky Law Review, the Moot Court Board and the Trial Advocacy Team. Judge Jones was a distinguished law student who earned the top grade in numerous law school classes. She received her undergraduate degree from Transylvania University where she also graduated with magna cum laude honors.
Judge Jones is married to Lawrence L. Jones II. They live on a horse farm in Oldham County and are busy raising two teenagers.