by McKenna Horsley, Kentucky Lantern
April 15, 2025

FRANKFORT — During her investiture as Kentucky’s first female chief justice, Debra Lambert said her experience growing up in Eastern Kentucky shaped the path she’s taken in life. 

Lambert, a native of Bell County, said her parents, James and Kathleen Hembree, “weren’t given much in the way of educational opportunities.” Her father worked as a coal miner at the same mine his father worked at before him, and her mother’s father “was a Baptist preacher who thought high school was only appropriate for his sons but not his daughters.” 

With a piece of coal company scrip tucked in her shoe for good luck, Lambert was publicly sworn into her office on the high court Tuesday, surrounded by her family, fellow justices, and members of Kentucky’s other government branches, including Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear and Republicans Senate President Robert Stivers and House Speaker David Osborne. 

“So, for my brief experience and tenure as chief justice of the commonwealth, I think my parents’ philosophy will guide me well — work hard, be joyful and be fearless,” Lambert said. 

Lambert’s four-year term as chief justice began in January.  She represents the 3rd Supreme Court District, which includes southern parts of Central and Eastern Kentucky; voters  elected her to the court in 2018.

Several speakers noted that the current Kentucky Supreme Court is historic for women, not only under Lambert’s leadership, but also because the majority of the justices on the court are women and recently elected Justice Pamela Goodwine is the first Black woman to sit on the court. 

“When we do the work of this court, which is interpreting our Constitution, our statutes, looking at cases that were heard throughout the commonwealth for error, we are neither man nor woman … ,” said ​​Justice Angela McCormick Bisig. “We are all legal scholars working together side by side, regardless of those issues. So quite frankly, we don’t discuss it a lot among ourselves, but today I really just want to sing it from the rooftops, because it is a historic day in our state that we have this situation with this Kentucky Supreme Court.” 

Lambert and Goodwine were set to have their investitures in January shortly after assuming their offices, but the events were postponed amid severe winter storms. Goodwine’s investiture will be held Friday at 1:30 p.m. at the Capitol. 

Justices on the court selected Lambert to serve as chief justice in September. She succeeds retired Chief Justice Laurance VanMeter in the role. He administered the oath of office to Lambert and Deputy Chief Justice Robert Conley Tuesday.

Lambert now lives in Pulaski County with her husband, Joseph Sharpe. Lambert earned her degrees from Eastern Kentucky University and the University of Kentucky College of Law. She previously was married to former Chief Justice Joseph Lambert, who left the Kentucky Supreme Court in 2008.

Before joining the Supreme Court, Lambert was on the Kentucky Court of Appeals and was appointed as a family court circuit judge in the 28th Judicial Circuit by former Democratic Gov. Paul Patton in 1999. She practiced law in Mount Vernon as an assistant commonwealth’s attorney and city attorney. 

Lambert also led the Kentucky Judicial Commission on Mental Health and volunteers as a certified suicide prevention trainer.

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