Hon. Jeffrey Bates
Judge Bates was appointed to the Court of Appeals, Southern District, beginning Dec. 1, 2003, and he was retained in 2006 and 2018. He has long served on the State Judicial Records Committee and Court Management of Technology Committee.
Judge Bates was engaged in private practice in Springfield from 1984 - 2003, trying complex personal injury and wrongful death cases.
Judge Bates earned his Juris Doctor in 1984 from the University of Missouri–Columbia where he served as associate editor-in-chief of the Missouri Law Review. He graduated in 1979 from Southwest Missouri State University with a B.S. in speech.