Judge Nancy H. Vaidik
(Fifth District)

409 State House
Indianapolis, IN  46204
(317) 234-0883

Nancy H. Vaidik was appointed to the Court by Governor Frank O’Bannon on January 19, 2000. She grew up in Portage, Indiana, and graduated from Valparaiso University with High Distinction in 1977.  She earned her law degree from the Valparaiso University School of Law in 1980.

Prior to her elevation to the appellate court, Judge Vaidik served as a trial court judge in Porter County for seven years. She began her legal career with the Porter County Prosecutor’s Office, and was chief deputy prosecutor before joining the law firm of J.J. Stankiewicz and Associates in Merrillville, Indiana.  In private practice, Judge Vaidik specialized in civil law, including domestic relations, probate, government law, and general litigation.  In 1985, she founded the Porter County Sexual Assault Recovery Project, and from 1990 to 1992 was the attorney for Caring Place, Inc., a shelter for battered women.

Judge Vaidik is committed to legal education; she is an adjunct professor of law at Indiana University School of Law in Bloomington and currently serves as a visiting professor at the College of Law of England and Wales.  For 14 years, from 1986 to 2000, she taught trial advocacy at her alma mater, the Valparaiso University School of Law, where she co-founded the Mediation Clinic in 1997.

Judge Vaidik does not limit her educational contributions to the classrooms of law schools. Committed to the ongoing education of her fellow lawyers, she also teaches or has taught for the National Institute for Trial Advocacy; for the Indiana Judicial Center in several topic areas for the past 11 years; for the Indiana Prosecuting Attorney Council on evidence; and for the Indiana Continuing Legal Education Foundation (ICLEF) and the Indiana State Bar Association in seminars since 1994.

Judge Vaidik served on the Board of Managers of the Indiana Judge’s Association for eight years, serving as its secretary-treasurer, vice president, and president.  She has served as an Advisory Board member of the Indiana Women in Law Conference since 2000.  She has also been involved in the Indiana Judicial Center’s Mentor Judge Program.

In 2007, Judge Vaidik was named an Indiana Lawyer Distinguished Barrister and received the National Institute for Trial Advocacy Robert Keeton Faculty Award.  She received the 2003 Paragon of Justice award from the BLSA and HLSA chapters at Valparaiso University School of Law and in 2004, the Indiana State Bar Association’s Women in Law Achievement Award.  In 1996, the Indiana Domestic Violence Coalition named her Judge of the Year.  She has twice received a Sagamore of the Wabash from Indiana’s governor.

Judge Vaidik is a member of the American and Indiana State Bar Associations as well as the Sagamore Inn of Court.   She was retained on the Court of Appeals by election in 2002, and is married and has two daughters.