After 23 years as a trial court judge, Larry E. Thompson was elected to the Kentucky Court of Appeals in November 2018. He serves Division 2 of the 7th Appellate District, which is made up of 33 counties in Eastern Kentucky.
He began serving as chief judge of the Court of Appeals in January 2023 after his fellow judges elected him to the position. The chief judge provides administrative oversight to the Court of Appeals. Judge Thompson came to the Court of Appeals from Pike Circuit Court where he was a circuit judge for the Family Court Division from his election in 1999 until December 2018. During that period, he served as chief circuit judge for a time and was president of the Kentucky Circuit Judges Association for two years.
Judge Thompson was appointed Co-Chair of the newly created Kentucky Judicial Mental Health Commission in 2022 by Deputy Chief Justice Debra Lambert. In that role he, along with Deputy Chief Justice Lambert, will lead a large group of key stakeholders in a statewide effort to improve how judicial processes affect cases where parties have mental health, substance use or intellectual disabilities.
In 1995, he was appointed to fill a vacancy on Pike District Court and held that position until he was elected to Circuit Court in 1999. While on the district bench, he served for a period as chief district judge. He was in private practice from 1987 to 1995.
He earned a bachelor's degree from Eastern Kentucky University in 1983 and a juris doctor degree from the Northern Kentucky University Salmon P. Chase College of Law in 1986. He is a member of the Kentucky Bar Association and West Virginia Bar Association.
Judge Thompson grew up in Belfry, which is in Pike County, Ky. He is married to Kelli Thompson and has a daughter, Larrin Thompson, and a stepdaughter, Taryn Guerra. He resides in Pikeville and is a member of the Pikeville Main Street Church of Christ.