Indiana Chief Justice Randall T. Shepard announced that he is stepping down from the bench in March 2012. The 64-year-old Shepard, who is Indiana’s 99th justice, is the longest-serving leader of a state’s high court in the nation, joined the Indiana Supreme Court in 1985 and became chief justice in 1987.

He helped modernize the courts system, such as web casting the court’s oral arguments. In 2007, along with a former Indiana governor, he chaired a panel that studied methods of local government reform and ended with proposals – some enacted in law. More recently, he led an effort to reduce the number of mortgage foreclosures in Indiana, in part by training pro bono mediators and representatives for those want to stay in their homes.