Justice Nancy Jear Waples is the first person of color appointed to the Vermont Judiciary and serves as the 137th Justice of the Vermont Supreme Court.

She co-chairs with Chief Justice Paul Reiber the Commission on Mental Health and the Courts. She chairs the Court Operations Technology Committee and the Recruitment and Retention Subcommittee of the Commission on the Delivery of Legal Services. Justice Waples is passionate about protecting equal access to justice and empowering minoritized individuals and women as leaders. She co-chairs with Chief Justice Reiber the Commission on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and she represents the Judiciary on the Vermont Access to Justice Coalition. She is the Court’s liaison to the Criminal Division, serving on the Criminal Procedure Advisory Committee and the Criminal Oversight Advisory Committee. As the liaison to the Treatment Courts, she is a member of its Executive Committee. She is a recipient of the Excellence in Public Leadership Award (St. John’s University School of Law, 2026).

Before joining the state's highest court, Justice Waples served as a Vermont Superior Court judge for seven years, presiding in nearly every county in Vermont on criminal, civil, juvenile, and family matters.

Previously, Justice Waples worked in private practice as a criminal defense attorney. She served as the Criminal Justice Act Coordinator for the District of Vermont, liaising between the federal courts and the panel of private attorneys representing indigent clients in federal criminal cases. She served as a state prosecutor for Robert Morgenthau, the Manhattan District Attorney, and as a federal prosecutor in Vermont.

The daughter of Chinese immigrants, Justice Waples became a U.S. citizen in 1977. She earned academic degrees from the College of William and Mary (BA) and St. John’s University School of Law (JD).

• The College of William and Mary (BA. 1982)
• St. John’s University School of Law (JD, 1987)