Judge Ed Kinkeade
District Judge of the North District of Texas
Judge Ed Kinkeade serves as a United States District Judge for the Northern District of Texas. Judge Kinkeade was appointed to the federal bench of the Northern District of Texas by President George W. Bush in 2002. The son of the late Dr. Henry H. Kinkeade and Mrs. Henry H. Kinkeade, Judge Kinkeade’s father pastored Irving’s First Baptist Church for 32 years. Judge Kinkeade earned his undergraduate degree and his law degree from Baylor University. He earned a Master of Laws degree from the University of Virginia and was in private practice from 1974-1980, becoming partner at the firm of Power and Kinkeade in Irving. In 1981, Judge Kinkeade left private practice at the age of 29 when he was elected judge of County Criminal Court No. 10 in Dallas. Eight months later, he was appointed judge of the 194th Judicial District Court. After seven years on the district bench, he was appointed to the Court of Appeals, Fifth District, in 1988 by then-Texas Gov. William P. Clements.
Judge Kinkeade is the jurist in residence at Baylor Law School where he teaches professional responsibility. He also was an adjunct professor teaching legal ethics at Texas Wesleyan University School of Law for over 20 years. He was named Outstanding Adjunct Professor at Texas Wesleyan University School of Law eight times. He has co-authored two books, Kinkeade & McColloch’s Texas Penal Code Annotated and A Practical Guide to Texas Evidence: Objections, Responses, Rules and Practice Commentary, and numerous law review articles. In 2004, Texas Wesleyan University awarded Judge Kinkeade an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree, and that same year, Dallas Baptist University awarded him an Honorary Doctor of Humanities degree. He was chosen as the ABOTA Texas Lawyer of the Year in 2010, and as Baylor Lawyer of the Year for 2010.
In addition to his law career, Judge Kinkeade is committed to his community, having served on the Baylor Medical Center at Irving board of trustees, the Dallas Mayor’s Blue Ribbon Task Force on Alcoholism, the Baylor University Alumni Association, and the board of the Downtown YMCA. From 2006-2008, he served as chairman of the Baylor Health Care System board of trustees. Judge Kinkeade also served as chairman of the Dallas Volunteer Center and as a charter member of the Board of Irving Schools Foundation. He was named an Outstanding Young Alumni of Baylor University in 1988, and received the W. R. White Meritorious Service Award from the Baylor University Alumni Association in 2003. He currently serves as a trustee with Baylor Scott & White Health and as a national board member of Canine Companions for Independence, an organization that trains service and assistance dogs. Under Judge Kinkeade’s guidance, Baylor Scott and White partnered with Canine Companions for Independence to build Irving’s first hospital sponsored facility to train and donate service dogs. The facility’s campus is named in honor of Judge Kinkeade. In January 2016 a new puppy named Kinkeade was born and is now in the first phase of training to be a service dog.
As part of his responsibilities of teaching ethics, Judge Kinkeade serves as a teaching mentor in the Baylor Academy of the Advocate program at the University of St Andrews in Scotland. He travels to St Andrews every July through August to mentor the law students in the program, helping them see a career path as future attorneys. In addition, he teaches the students what to expect from judges and serves as a source of encouragement. Against the wonderful backdrop of St Andrews, Judge Kinkeade helps these young people see how they can serve others, and make a living pulling lives out of ditches. His Scottish heritage goes back to the Kinkeades who were alongside William Wallace and became the protectors of the Edinburgh Castle.
Judge Kinkeade is a member of First Baptist Church in Irving. His wife, Melissa, also a Baylor graduate, retired from teaching after 26 years with the Irving Independent School District, where she was named district Teacher of the Year in 2008-2009. Their children are, Mandy, a Baylor graduate; Brad, a graduate of Baylor University, MBA graduate of Baylor University Business School, and graduate of Baylor Law School; Thomas Anderson, Mandy’s husband, a graduate of Baylor University and Texas Wesleyan University School of Law; and Jenna Kinkeade, Brad’s wife, also a graduate of Baylor University. Judge Kinkeade and his wife have four grandchildren, Carole Beth Anderson, Tripp Anderson, Boyd Kinkeade, and Henry Bennett Kinkeade; all of whom are certainly future Baylor graduates. A little known fact about Judge Kinkeade is that he was the batting and bench coach for former Texas Ranger baseball player, Prince Fielder very early in Fielder’s baseball career.