Vaidik re-elected chief judge of Court of Appeals

Indiana Court of Appeals Chief Judge Nancy Vaidik will serve another three-year term leading the court beginning Jan. 1 after the court’s 15 judges re-elected her Wednesday.

Vaidik, a Portage native and Valparaiso resident, was appointed to the court by Gov. Frank O’Bannon in 2000 and retained in office by voters in 2002 and 2012. She was elected chief judge in October 2013.

Before joining the court, Vaidik served as a chief deputy prosecutor and a Porter County trial court judge and had experience in private practice. She founded the Porter County Victim’s Assistance Unit, the Porter County Sexual Assault Recovery Project, and the Valparaiso University School of Law Mediation Clinic. She graduated from Valparaiso University and Valparaiso University School of Law.

Vaidik is an adjunct professor at Indiana University Maurer School of Law and a national program director for the National Institute for Trial Advocacy.  She has received numerous awards, including Maurer’s Adjunct Professor of the Year Award, NITA’s Robert Keeton Faculty Award, the Indiana State Bar Association’s Women in Law Achievement Award, the Indiana Business Journal’s Women of Influence Award, the Indiana Domestic Violence Coalition Judge of the Year, the Valparaiso University Distinguished Alumni Award, and 2007 Indiana Lawyer Leadership in Law Distinguished Barrister.