2017 Commencement Speaker
Hon. Kristine Gerhard Baker
Kristine Gerhard Baker was sworn in as a U.S. District Judge for the Eastern District
of Arkansas May 21, 2012.
She was born in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and is a charter-class graduate of the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy in Aurora, Illinois. She received two Bachelor of Arts degrees, summa cum laude, in 1993 from Saint Louis University and a Juris Doctor, with High Honors, in 1996 from the University of Arkansas School of Law.
She began her legal career by serving as a law clerk for then Chief U.S. District Judge for the Eastern District of Arkansas Susan Webber Wright from 1996-98. Baker entered private practice and focused on commercial litigation until taking the bench.
Prior to taking the bench, Baker served on the boards of and as a volunteer for many community and legal organizations. She served as an appointed member of the Arkansas Supreme Court’s Model Civil Jury Instructions Committee, as a board member and fellow of the Arkansas Bar Foundation and as a member and board member of the Pulaski County Bar Association.
She married her husband, John Baker, a Little Rock native and fellow lawyer, in December of 1994 between law school semesters. They have four children and reside in Little Rock.