Judge Mark Ward was appointed Judge of Division IX of the Shelby County Criminal Court by the Governor of Tennessee in 2004 and was elected to that position by the people of Shelby County in 2006 and in 2014, where he currently serves.  Judge Ward received his undergraduate degree in Law Enforcement and his Master of Arts in Criminal Justice from the University of Memphis.  He also holds a Master of Arts in Religion from Memphis Theological Seminary and is a graduate of the Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law at the University of Memphis. 

Judge Ward has over 40 years experience in criminal justice.  He served as law clerk to Presiding Judge Mark A. Walker of the Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee from 1979 to 1981.  From 1981 to 2004 Judge Ward practiced law in Memphis as a private practitioner and as an Assistant Public Defender.   From 1996 to 2001 he served as an Adjunct Instructor in the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Memphis.  In 2000, he litigated the case of Rogers v. Tennessee, which he argued before the United States Supreme Court in Washington, D.C.  Judge Ward currently teaches Criminal Procedure II as an Adjunct Instructor at the School of Law at the University of Memphis.  He is the author of numerous publications, including Tennessee Criminal Trial Practice, published by West Publishing Company, which is designed to serve the needs of judges, prosecutors, and defense attorneys and is known in Tennessee as the authoritative treatise on criminal trial practice.

During his tenure on the bench the Memphis Bar Association has twice conducted Evaluations of the 84 federal, state, county and municipal judges in Shelby County. In both evaluations, Judge Ward was the “Highest Rated Judge in Shelby County” for his overall job performance.  He has also been selected “Judge of the Year” by the Criminal Law Section of the Memphis Bar Association.  In addition to his performance on the bench, Judge Ward actively devotes a great deal of time to the betterment of the legal profession. He teaches Criminal Procedure II at the University of Memphis and was selected by the students in 2011, 2013, 2017 and 2020 as the “Adjunct Professor of the Year.” He frequently is called upon to lecture attorneys and fellow judges at continuing legal education seminars. Currently he is the Co-chair of the Tennessee Judicial Conference Pattern Jury Instruction Committee; and serves as a Liason to the Tennessee Supreme Court’s Advisory Commission on the Rules of Practice and Procedure.

As a practicing lawyer, Judge Ward served as the Chair of the Criminal Justice Section of the Tennessee Bar Association, President of the Tennessee Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, and Chair of the Criminal Law Section of the Memphis Bar Association.  In 1998 he was declared “Public Service Attorney of the Year” by the Tennessee Bar Association.

Judge Ward is a native Memphian and is a product of the Memphis City School System.  He has actively participated in various civic programs such as Habitat for Humanity and the Adopt-A-School Program at Peabody Elementary and Hanley Elementary Schools. He has also served as a member of the Kiwanis Club of Memphis and served on the Board of Dismas House Inc. and The Community Legal Center, where he served as Chairman of the Board for two years.  He has been a member of both Lindenwood Christian Church and Calvary Episcopal Church, where he served as a Sunday School teacher, Youth Leader, Lay Reader and Lay Eucharistic Minister.