About the Bench and Bar Committee

The SMBA Bench and Bar Committee, by Ginger Gooch, SMBA President-Elect and Bench and Bar Committee Chair

As President-Elect of the SMBA, I have had the opportunity to serve as Chair of the Bench and Bar Committee during 2016.  Prior to this year, I’m not sure I was aware the SMBA had a Bench and Bar Committee.  I can say with certainty I did not understand the various functions of the Committee.  As my tenure as Committee Chair comes to an end and John Pratt prepares to head the Committee as SMBA President-Elect for 2017, I want to share some information about the composition of the Bench and Bar Committee and its functions in an effort to spread the word about the ways this Committee may be of assistance to you as an SMBA member.

In 2003, the SMBA, together with members of our local judiciary, formed the SMBA Bench and Bar Committee.  The preamble to the Missouri Rules of Professional Conduct states that “[a]s a public citizen, a lawyer should seek improvement of the law, access to the legal system, the administration of justice, and the quality of service rendered by the legal profession.”  In forming the Bench and Bar Committee, the Committee founders recognized that neither attorneys nor judges acting alone can be as effective in making these improvements as we can when acting together.  The combined effort of attorneys and judges is critical to the fulfillment of every lawyer’s duty to improve the legal profession under the Rules of Professional Conduct. 

GOALS OF COMMITTEE

The Bench and Bar Committee is charged with providing information to the public, attorneys and judges relating to court rules, obstacles faced by the court, and improvements in the court system in expediting case resolution. Additionally, the Bench and Bar Committee is dedicated to the goal of actively supporting the management of judicial dockets and removal of obstacles in the judicial process as well as promoting better communication and understanding between judges and attorneys relating to the operation of the court system.

In practice, the Committee provides a forum for SMBA members and the judiciary to discuss any and all relevant issues and serves as a conduit for SMBA members to bring complaints, concerns, and questions to the Bench anonymously.  Another important goal and function of the Committee is to address mental health and/or substance abuse concerns involving individual lawyers before those concerns rise to crisis level. 

COMPOSITION OF COMMITTEE

The membership of this Committee includes judges and commissioners, the President and President-Elect of the Springfield Metropolitan Bar Association, and attorneys with experience in the various aspects of Greene County Courts. Jerry Moyer attends the meetings and provides valuable input as our Greene County Court Administrator. 

In 2016 four committee members concluded their terms.  Thank you Steve Snead, David Ransin, Michael Miller and Commissioner Chrisman for your service. Members of the Bench and Bar Committee for 2017 are:

From the Bar: Dwayne Fulk, Mark McQueary, Rob Palmer, Teresa Grantham Fiester, Kris Barefield, Matthew Growcock, Kurt Larson, Crista Hogan, Dan Patterson, Ginger Gooch, John Pratt

From the Bench: Presiding Judge Thomas Mountjoy, Judge Michael Cordonnier, Judge Jason Brown, Judge Todd Thornhill and Commissioner John Lukachick.

If you have an issue you would like to raise with the Bench and Bar Committee, please contact me or any of the Committee members listed above.  If you contact me and let me know of a concern, I assure you your identity will not be revealed unless you ask me to identify you to the Committee. My email is Ginger.Gooch@huschblackwell.com and phone is 417 829-4128.