Judge Welby was born and raised in south St. Louis. He attended St. Mary’s University in San Antonio for his undergraduate degree followed by Washington University School of Law, graduating in 1991. Judge Welby began his legal career at Thompson Coburn. He became an Assistant United States Attorney in 1997 and started his criminal defense practice in 2003. In 2017, he became the Federal Public Defender in the Southern District of Illinois. He was appointed as a United States Magistrate Judge in the Eastern District of Missouri in 2020. Judge Welby is married and has four children.