New bankruptcy judge appointed to Indiana Southern District bench

Lawrence Circuit Judge Andrea K. McCord has been appointed to a 14-year term as a bankruptcy judge in the Indiana Southern District Court based in New Albany. McCord will take office May 20, succeeding retiring bankruptcy Judge Basil H. Lorch III.

7^th Circuit Chief Judge Diane P. Wood announced McCord’s appointment Friday, May 10, 2019, after the court last June began a search for Lorch’s successor. McCord was selected by the judges of the 7^th Circuit.

McCord was appointed to the state court bench in Bedford in 2007 by Gov. Mitch Daniels, after which she twice was re-elected, most recently without opposition in 2014. McCord is a 2013 graduate of the Indiana Judicial College and chairs the Improvements to the Judiciary Committee for the Indiana State Bar Association. She also is a member of the American Bar Association, the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges, director of the Indiana Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges, and a member of the Indiana Judges Association. She is a member of the Indiana Criminal Justice Institute Board of Trustees and is active in the Lawrence County Bar Association.

A graduate of Franklin College, McCord was student body president and a Roger D. Branigan Scholar before earning her law degree from Indiana University McKinney School of Law. Admitted to practice in 1990, she clerked for Indiana Court of Appeals Judge Linda Chezem, then worked in private practice in Franklin, where she later served as a deputy prosecutor and a juvenile referee.

McCord also has taught at conferences and has served on numerous panels at various conferences and continuing legal education programs. She was a member of the founding board of The Lion’s Den, a nonprofit teen coffeehouse, and a founder of Walk with Excellence.

A date for McCord’s formal investiture on the bankruptcy court was not immediately available.