Hon. Cynthia Wheless

Judge Cynthia Wheless is the Presiding Judge of the 417th District Court in Collin County. Judge Wheless received her JD, 1991, SMU Dedman School of Law and is Board Certified in Juvenile Law. She was a member of SMU Law Review (Citation Editor.) She received her BA in Government & Politics from UTD, 1988, cum laude.

After law school she worked for Haynes and Boone LLP, Wheless & Walker and served as a Mental Health Master for the Collin County Probate Court. In 1999, she was appointed as Juvenile Court Referee by the Collin County Juvenile Board.

In 2004, Governor Rick Perry appointed Judge Wheless to the 417th Judicial District Court, designated as a Juvenile Court. Judge Wheless was awarded the “Voice for Children Award” in 2006 by CASA of Collin County. She was a founding member of the Collin County Women Lawyers Association (2013-2014.) In 2018, Judge Wheless was appointed to the Judicial Commission on Mental Health, by Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Nathan Hecht and Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Chief Judge Sharon Keller.

Judge Wheless was honored to receive the Texas Women Lawyers Association, 2022 Pathfinder Award. She received the 2022 Award of Excellence from the Collin County Crisis Intervention Team working on mental health. In December 2022, Governor Greg Abbott appointed Judge Wheless to the Texas Juvenile Justice Board.