Leigh Saufley


Leigh Ingalls Saufley is the Dean of the University of Maine School of Law and former Chief Justice of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court.
Saufley graduated from the University of Maine in 1976. She was a member of Phi Beta Kappa. She earned her J.D. degree from the University of Maine School of Law in 1980 and served as a deputy attorney general until 1990, when she was named to the Maine District Court. Appointed to Maine Superior Court in 1993, she was chosen as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court in October 1997. On December 6, 2001, she was sworn in as Maine's first female Chief Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court by Governor Angus King. She was reappointed to a second term in 2009 by King's successor, Democratic Gov. John Baldacci, and to her third term by Republican Gov. Paul LePage in 2016.
It was announced on April 8, 2020 that Saufley would be stepping down to become Dean of the University of Maine School of Law.
She retired from the bench on April 14, 2020.