Judge Vanzetta Penn McPherson was appointed United States Magistrate Judge for the Middle District of Alabama in April of 1992. During her judgeship, she has served on the Magistrate Judges Advisory Committee, the Eleventh Circuit Advisory Committee, and as ADR Coordinator of her court. She has also lectured at national training conferences for magistrate judges. Judge McPherson was educated at the Alabama State College Laboratory School, and Howard University, where she received her bachelor's degree cum laude in 1969.

She then received her master of arts degree from Columbia University in 1971. In 1974, she graduated from Columbia Law School, after serving as Chairman of the law school's Moot Court Executive Committee. Judge McPherson is married to Thomas McPherson, Jr., a retired district director with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission who is now a private employment mediator. They are the parents of four adult children.

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