The Honorable Jan R. Jurden, a Delaware native, is the President Judge of the Superior Court of Delaware.  President Judge Jurden first joined the Superior Court bench in 2001.

After proudly serving three years in the United States Army following high school, President Judge Jurden received her B.A. summa cum laude from Muhlenberg College in 1985, and her J.D. from the Dickinson School of Law in 1988, where she was an Articles Editor of the Dickinson Law Review, a member of the Woolsack Honor Society, and a recipient of the Gwilyn A. Price, Jr. Memorial Prize and the Abel Klaw Advocacy Prize.

Before joining the Superior Court, President Judge Jurden practiced law for 13 years with the law firm of Young, Conaway, Stargatt & Taylor, concentrating on corporate and commercial litigation.

In 2008, President Judge Jurden designed and launched Delaware’s first felony Mental Health Court in an effort to improve responses to justice-involved persons suffering from serious mental illnesses and to reduce probation violations and recidivism.  President Judge Jurden presided over the Mental Health Court for over eight years, during which time The Mental Health Court Team was awarded the Governor’s Team Excellence Award.  In recognition of her pioneering work on Mental Health Court and other problem-solving courts, including Veterans’ Treatment Court, the Delaware State Bar Association presented President Judge Jurden with the Outstanding Service to the Courts and Bar Award in 2011.

In 2010, President Judge Jurden was one of three judges selected to serve in the newly created Complex Commercial Litigation Division (“CCLD”) of the Superior Court.  The CCLD hears business disputes with damages in excess of one million dollars.

President Judge Jurden is a member of the American and Delaware Bar Associations and the National Association of Women Judges.  She currently serves as co-chair of the Criminal Justice Council of the Judiciary.  She also serves on the Domestic Violence Coordinating Council, Sex Offender Management Board, Fatal Incident Review Team, Human Trafficking Commission and the Delaware Criminal Justice Council.  She is a member of the Delaware Supreme Court Ethics Advisory Committee, the Women and the Law, and Multicultural Lawyers and Judges’ Section of the Delaware State Bar Association.