Judge Irv Maze was elected judge of the Kentucky Court of Appeals on Nov. 6, 2012, serving Division 1 of the 4th Appellate District, which encompasses all of Jefferson County, Kentucky. He has served in that position since April 2012, when he was appointed to fill the vacancy left by Judge, now Commonwealth Attorney, Thomas B. Wine. Judge Maze was a Circuit Court judge in Jefferson County for nearly five years until his appointment to the Court of Appeals.
In 2016, Judge Maze’s colleagues on the Court of Appeals elected him to represent the court on the Judicial Ethics Committee, a body which answers inquiries from Kentucky’s judges and judicial candidates concerning judicial ethics under the Kentucky Code of Judicial Conduct.
Judge Maze began his legal career as a clerk for the late Judge Thomas Ballantine. Upon receiving his Juris Doctor from the University of Louisville’s Brandeis School of Law, Judge Maze established a successful private law practice, specializing in family, employment and municipal law. Judge Maze maintained his private practice for 32 years until his appointment to the bench in 2008. He also served as an Assistant Jefferson County Attorney from 1979 to 1985, prosecuting felony, non-support and paternity cases.
Judge Maze also served as a Commissioner on Jefferson County Fiscal Court before serving as Jefferson County Attorney from 1999 to 2008. As county attorney, Judge Maze helped implement and administer one of the most successful Drug Court programs in the nation. He prosecuted more than 250,000 felony and misdemeanor cases annually and, as counsel to local government, he supervised the merger of Louisville and Jefferson County governments. Judge Maze’s office also collected more than $70 million in child support every year during his tenure.
Judge Maze is a past state director of the International Municipal Lawyers Association and the Kentucky County Attorneys Association’s Child Support Committee. He is a member of the Kentucky and Louisville Bar Associations, as well as the American Bar Association.
Judge Maze holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from Indiana University. He is married to the former Peggy Calloway and has five children and eight grandchildren.