Rhynette Northcross Hurd ’71

A presiding judge for Division 5 of Shelby County Circuit Court in Memphis, Tennessee, Rhynette Northcross Hurd holds a J.D. from Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law at University of Memphis, a Ph.D. in English composition from George Peabody College of Vanderbilt University, and a Master of Arts in Teaching from Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Before taking the bench, she was a co-founder, mediator, arbitrator, and special master at Ridder Hurd PLLC, a transactional attorney at International Paper Company, and manager of litigation and E&O claims at Sedgwick Claims Management Services. Before law school, Hurd was an English professor, most recently at the University of Memphis.

Hurd was editor-in-chief of the 1990-91 Memphis State Law Review and judicial law clerk to the Honorable Bailey Brown, U.S. Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit. She has served on the Board of Trustees of The University of Tennessee, the Tennessee Board of Law Examiners, the Tennessee Domestic Violence Coordinating Council, and numerous non-profit boards. Hurd has been on the Mount Holyoke Legacy of Diversity Committee, the Black Alumnae Focus Group Committee, and served multiple terms on the Mount Holyoke Alumnae Association Board. She is married and has two sons and two grandchildren.

Class year: 1971
Joined board in: 2016, re-elected in 2021