Probate Star Spotlight
Shelley Rockwell
Shelley Rockwell grew up in the Northern Virginia suburbs and attended the College of William & Mary, receiving a BA in English and history in 1977. After working several years on the hotel side of conference planning and management, she began working at the National Center for State Courts in 1984 in the Association Management Division. She worked initially in an administrative capacity, becoming an Association Manager for the American Judges Association in 1987. In 1989 she added the National College of Probate Judges and the Conference of State Court Administrators to “her” groups and over the years also worked at times with the National Conference of Appellate Court Clerks and the Conference of Court Public Information Officers.
Although not an attorney, Ms. Rockwell enjoyed working with NCPJ and learning much more about the world of probate, trusts and guardianships, and helping the organization grow and provide vital educational and networking opportunities to judges from across the United States. Ms. Rockwell was incredibly diligent and very organized in all she did for the NCPJ. She was the right hand to the NCPJ Executive Committee, reinforcing them with detailed agendas and minutes, budgets, conference planning and implementation and provided incredible support of NCPJ for three decades. At the time of her retirement in 2020, NCPJ had grown to be the preeminent voice on all probate-related issues.