The Honorable
Shammara H. Henderson (2020-present)

Judge Shammara H. Henderson was appointed to the New Mexico Court of Appeals in February 2020 by Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham, and won her election in November of 2020, becoming the first Black appellate judge and Black woman to hold statewide office in New Mexico.

Born and raised in Albuquerque, NM, she graduated from Valley High School. She received a bachelor’s degree from American University in Washington, D.C., where she received a full ride with the highly competitive Frederick Douglass Scholarship. She received her J.D. from the University of New Mexico School of Law where she received the W.E. Bondurant Scholarship and University of New Mexico Graduate Fellowship.

Judge Henderson began her legal career clerking for Justice Charles W. Daniels at the N.M. Supreme Court. She then joined the Second Judicial District Attorney’s Office. Afterward, she became the Associate General Counsel for the Office of Governor. Later, she joined the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of New Mexico, where she successfully litigated criminal and civil cases and appealed criminal cases. Judge Henderson then co-founded her own law firm Henderson & Grohman, which later joined Freedman-Boyd, et al., where she represented clients in criminal, civil, and administrative matters in both state and federal courts at the trial and appellate level. Judge Henderson has also been an adjunct professor at UNM School of Law and is a Judicial Coach through the New Mexico Judicial Coaching Resource Program.

Judge Henderson is President, H. Vearle Payne America Inn of Courts; Board Member, NM Black Judicial Council; ABF Fellow; past Board Member-At-Large, National Bar Association; past President, New Mexico Black Lawyers Association; past President, UNM School of Law Alumni Board; past Member, UNM Alumni Board of Directors; past Chair, NM Sentencing Commission; Member, National Bar Association Judicial Council; Member, Albuquerque Chapter of the Links, Inc.; and past Treasurer, Iota Xi Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha, Sorority, Inc. She enjoys spending time with her husband and dogs, working out, traveling, roller skating, hiking, dancing, reading, and community service.