This year, unlike in some past years, we have some qualified candidates to choose from in several of the family court races. Although I still do not understand why someone who has never practice family law believes that he or she is qualified to be a family court judge, often the most qualified candidate does not prevail.
So who are we attorneys to support when none of the respective choices for a family court department are qualified. Whom is the general public supposed to vote for when neither candidate is qualified? Unfortunately, we are forced to choose the lesser of the evils.
We must examine which candidate has the most general litigation experience? Which candidate has the most life experience? Has the candidate been married, divorced or have children? What kind of temperament does the candidate have? Choosing between the lesser of evils has a large margin for error and is obviously not the optimum way to choose a judge who literally has a family’s life in the palm of his or her hands. The choice is particularly difficult if you have an incumbent judge who has proved himself, or herself, ineffective. The choice then becomes between an ineffective incumbent and an unqualified, untested challenger. In this particular scenario, I would lean toward the “devil I now versus the devil I don’t know.”
The bottom line is that although requiring a candidate to have passed the bar at least ten years before being eligible to run for judge was a start, it is not sufficient. If we want better qualified judges, we have to raise the bar. A family court judge candidate should be required to have ten years’ legal experience, to have a minimum number of contested family court trials and to have a minimum number of family law continuing education credits, similar to the requirements for specialization. Further, the legislative should also consider a pay raise so as to attract more qualified candidates.
The opinions expressed in this blog are of Bruce I. Shapiro of Pecos Law Group and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of any other lawyer associated with Pecos Law Group.