The Missouri Bar has compiled its biannual list of lawyers’ evaluations of judges who are up for retention votes in November. Ron Baird, President-elect of The Missouri Bar, says that while there are 28,000 members of The Bar, only a fraction of those attorneys will actually fill out the evaluation survey. He says lawyers who practice in front of these judges or who have direct knowledge of the judges will fill out the evaluation forms and offer opinions as to whether they think the judges should be retained. The evaluations are submitted, anonymously, to the University of Missouri for tabulation. In the cases of two judges being evaluated this year – both from St. Louis County – the lawyers have voted against retention. This marks only the third and fourth times since The Bar began doing its evaluations forty years ago that lawyers have opted to vote against retaining any judges. Missouri voters will make the actual decision in November. The public can get a look at the evaluations by logging onto www.mobar.org or at www.showmecourts.org.
Related web sites:
The Missouri Bar
Show Me Courts