Practice Management

Don't popularly elect judges. It's bad.

By Dan Hull

Even if all elected judges were honest, judicial elections naturally erode public confidence because they imply that judges have "constituents" (i.e., the entities and lawyers who contribute to their campaigns) and that justice is political, and may be purchased. It doesn't pass anyone's smell test. In a country with the best law schools in the world and with legions of truly talented lawyers, who believe that lawyering is a privilege and art, we can do better than that. --A blogger in 2005

There aren't many absolutes out there, but here's one: Judges should not be elected public officials. It's medieval. It's beneath all the U.S. states. It's bad for clients and good lawyers. And it just smells bad. See at Law.com "Recusal Fight Highlights Judicial Election Concerns" and our April 28 piece "The Elected Judiciary". We can do better.

Full post as published by What About Clients? on August 05, 2008 (boomark / email).