Shammara H. Henderson

Professional career

• Shammara H. Henderson is the first African-American judge appointed to the New Mexico Court of Appeals, serving since March 1, 2020, and re‐elected in 2024
• Shareholder at Henderson & Grohman, PC, later joined Freedman, Boyd, Hollander, Goldberg, Urias, & Ward, PA (2017–2020)
• Judicial Law Clerk for New Mexico Supreme Court Justice Charles W. Daniels (2007–2008)
• The first African-American judge on the court and the first African-American woman to hold statewide judicial office in New Mexico

Education

Additional information

• On February 14, 2020, Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham appointed Henderson to the New Mexico Court of Appeals, replacing M. Monica Zamora.
• The official Court of Appeals biography states that Shammara H. Henderson was appointed in 2020.
• She co-founded Henderson & Grohman in 2017; the firm joined Freedman, Boyd, Hollander, Goldberg, Urias & Ward in 2018.
• In 2011 she joined the U.S. Attorney’s Office for New Mexico, trying criminal and civil cases and handling Tenth Circuit appeals.
• She graduated from Valley High School, obtained a B.A. in political science and philosophy from American University in 2004 (Frederick Douglass Scholarship), and a J.D. from the University of New Mexico School of Law in 2007
• 224,601 no).
• American University bachelor’s degree with a Frederick Douglass Scholarship and University of New Mexico J.D. She clerked for Justice Charles Daniels, litigated at the Second District prosecutor’s office, and held the role of associate general counsel to the governor.