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Fischer to become next Supreme Court Chief Justice

Judge Zel Fischer

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – Missouri Supreme Court Chief Justice Patricia Breckenridge will turn over her title to Judge Zel Fischer effective July 1. Fischer, like all chief justices of the Missouri Supreme Court, will serve a two-year term. His term will expire July 1, 2019.

Breckenridge will remain on the Supreme Court as a judge.

Fischer joined the court in 2008 after his appointment by then-Gov. Matt Blunt. The native Northwest Missourian grew up in Watson, Missouri before attending William Jewell College and the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law. He worked as a law clerk for former Missouri Supreme Court Judge Andrew Jackson Higgins after college and then as a private attorney for many years before becoming an associate circuit judge in Atchison County in 2006.

Fischer still currently resides in Northwest Missouri with his wife and four children.