Jefferson Circuit Court (Family Trial Division) Paula F. Sherlock Division 10

Judge Sherlock now serves in Jefferson Family Court, Division 10. She presides over cases involving family and domestic relations, including divorce, custody, abuse and neglect of children, paternity, child support, adoptions, juvenile status offenses and domestic violence cases. For working families, she started a Pro Se Docket that meets on Tuesday nights so that parties do not have to miss work for court hearings. She also has developed a mentoring program for status offenders who often lack positive role models in their lives.

Judge Sherlock has been admitted to all state and federal Courts of Kentucky and to the United States Supreme Court. She has been an active member of the Louisville Bar Association, serving on the LBA Board of Directors and as Chair of the Continuing Education Committee. In 1996, she received the Pro Bono Challenge Award from the LBA. Judge Sherlock has volunteered her time and services to a number of community organizations, most notably The Center for Women and Families, Legal Aid and Volunteer Lawyers of Louisville.

Judge Sherlock currently serves on the Board of Directors for Volunteers of America, a non-profit agency that provides numerous community services, including substance abuse treatment and emergency shelters. She is also a Board member and former Chair of Community Living, Inc., a local non-profit organization that provides residential and support services to disabled adults. She has served on the Development Board for Project Women, a local non-profit organization that provides safe housing and educational opportunities for single mothers and their children. She has also been on the Board of Directors for Dress for Success Louisville, a non-profit organization that provides clothing and mentoring support for women moving from welfare to the workplace

Judge Sherlock was born in Elizabeth City, North Carolina and attended school in Portsmouth, Virginia. She is a 1992 graduate of Washington & Lee Law School in Lexington. Virginia. Prior to attending law school, she earned a Bachelor's Degree in English from the University of Northern Colorado, a Master's Degree in Counseling from Campbell University in North Carolina and completed course work for a Ph.D. at the University of Virginia.

Law is a second career for Judge Sherlock. She has been a junior high and high school teacher, a high school and college counselor and was the Dean of Students at Southern Seminary College, a private college for women in Virginia, for ten years. After moving to Louisville, Judge Sherlock was an Associate for two years at Boehl Stopher and Graves, concentrating in insurance defense. She set up a private practice in 1994 in conjunction with Burbank & Collins and concentrated her practice in the areas of employment law, medical malpractice, and family law. From 2002 until her appointment to the bench, she was of counsel with Fernandez Friedman Grossman Kohn & Son PLLC where she largely devoted her practice to family law and mediation.

Judge Sherlock is married to Ike Sherlock, her high school sweetheart, and is the mother of two adult sons, Cameron P. Sherlock and Sgt. Geoffrey R. Sherlock, USMC. She has one grandson, Zachary Sherlock.