Correction Appended
O.K., so a night with the Bar isn’t quite as much fun as a night at the bar. But, for a room full of lawyers, at least the Judicial Endorsements Committee spiced things up with one lighthearted question. The occasion was last Thursday night’s Q&A at the Albemarle County Office Building to determine which of seven candidates will get the Charlottesville-Albemarle Bar Association’s (cabaonline.org) judicial endorsement for the open Circuit Court seat.
The candidates are vying for a seat that will open when Judge Paul M. Peatross retires. After the candidates fielded more serious queries, the Bar committee threw the audience a bone: “Who are you outside of the law?”
Who knew lawyers could be so interesting? Among the candidates: a Sunday school-teaching violinist who went bungee-jumping on her 45th birthday; an avid runner; a weightlifter and yoga devotee who can stand on her head; a dedicated board-gamer and history nut; a disgruntled golfer/grandfather to a 5-month-old girl; and a lecturer at UVA Law School. All are married and most have several children. We’ll let you decide which hobby goes with what of the seven candidates: former Albemarle Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Cheryl Higgins; current General District Court Judge Robert H. Downer; four-time elected Albemarle Commonwealth’s Attorney James L. Camblos III; attorney Elizabeth Brady; Albemarle Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney John Zug; Charlottesville Deputy Commonwealth’s Attorney Claude Worrell; attorney R. Lee Livingston.
Don Morin, Judicial Endorsements Committee chair, said the forum was so the Bar could decide whom to endorse, but also to get the public involved.
The surprisingly whimsical evening was unfortunately lacking in discussion of the candidates’ legal qualifications. Questions pertained to mediation, custody cases, plea agreements and courtroom demeanor—so decision-makers may have to rely on candidates’ resumes or another review to tell if hopefuls have the chops to ride the bench.
Though the Bar endorsement is viewed as important, the General Assembly ultimately makes the appointment. Increasingly, the Assembly acts on politics to determine judgeships, say members of the local legal community.
Delegate David Toscano, who represents Charlottesville, was the only legislator to attend the forum. “I was there to gather information about several things related to candidates,” including their perspective on court issues and their temperament, he says. “I got a lot of very useful information.”
The Judicial Endorsements committee will meet January 3 and meet with the whole Bar January 10. Peatross is set to retire at the end of January.
Correction: Jan. 2, 2006
Due to an editing error, we need to correct a correction in last week’s issue. (Are you following?) Last week’s correction (p. 19) stated that we incorrectly identified a circuit court judge candidate in our article “Who are you outside the law,” Courts & Crime News, December 19. That’s correct; however, we incorrectly corrected the error in the correction by saying we misidentified a candidate as Patricia Brady when, in fact, her name is Elizabeth Brady. In fact, we misidentified her as Elizabeth Brady when her name, in fact, is Patricia Brady. Phew. (Are you still following?) We greatly apologize to Ms. Patricia Brady (again) for the original mistake and for the mistaken correction.
Correction: Dec. 26, 2006
In an article about circuit judge candidates [“Who are you outside of the law?” Courts & Crime News, December 19], we incorrectly reported the name and marital status of one of the candidates. Her name is Elizabeth Brady, not Patricia Brady, and she is unmarried. Apologies to Ms. Brady.
