Justice Bruce Zager, Senior Judge

Iowa Supreme Court

Bruce Zager was born and raised in Waterloo, Iowa. He received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Iowa in 1975, a master’s degree in Industrial Relations from Loyola University of Chicago in 1977, and a law degree from Drake Law School in 1980.

Zager started his career as an employee relations associate with the Illinois Hospital Association and later worked as a division personnel specialist with the Gould Corporation in Rolling Meadows, Ill. After earning his law degree, Zager worked in private practice at the McCrindle, Bergstrom & Sindlinger and Charles W. Hinton law firms, before opening his own law office in 1989. In 1987, he joined the Black Hawk County Attorney’s Office, first in the juvenile division and then in the civil division.

Zager was appointed to the Iowa District Court bench in 1999 and to the Iowa Supreme Court in 2011. He chaired the Iowa Supreme Court’s Guardianship and Conservatorship Reform Task Force and served on the court’s Public Outreach Steering Committee. Justice Zager retired and became a senior judge in 2018.