Mary Beth Naumann
Bio
Mary Elisabeth (Mary Beth) Naumann was appointed to serve as a United States Bankruptcy Judge for the Western District of Kentucky on November 5, 2025.
Mary Beth is a graduate of Centre College (B.A. 1995) and Washington and Lee University School of Law (J.D. 1999), Magna Cum Laude and Order of the Coif. At W&L, she was a Staffwriter and Lead Articles Editor of the Washington and Lee Law Review. She began her legal career as a law clerk for H. Emory Widener in the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in Abingdon, Virginia. Mary Beth then moved back to Lexington, Kentucky, and joined Jackson Kelly as an associate. She practiced at the firm for almost exactly 25 years, representing clients in a broad practice covering both commercial transactions and litigation, developing an expertise in bankruptcy as special counsel for debtors, counsel for purchasers of assets, defending breach of fiduciary duty actions, representing DIP lenders, and serving as Chapter 11 debtor's counsel. With a passion for horses, Mary Beth also had a longtime niche practice in the equine industry.
In her spare time, Mary Beth likes to train for and participate in endurance sporting events, including completing over 40 marathons, a few (admittedly ill-advised) trail 50Ks, two Ironman distance triathlons, and more half marathons and shorter distance triathlons than she'd like to count.
Mary Beth has written and presented about various topics related to bankruptcy, mineral, and equine law for the ABI Southwest Bankruptcy Conference, ABI Midwest Regional Bankruptcy Seminar, the Energy and Mineral Law Foundation, and the Kentucky Bar Association. She has also been a guest lecturer at the University of Kentucky J. David Rosenberg College of Law and the University of Louisville Equine Industry Program. She is the author of “The Community Caretaker Doctrine: Yet Another Fourth Amendment Exception,” American Journal of Criminal Law, Volume 26 (1999).