When Lisa Van Amburg submitted herself as a candidate for a judgeship on the Missouri Court of Appeals eight years ago, she found it to be a complex process because the application asks a lot of questions.
“It's a lot of work to put together your own application and time-consuming,” Van Amburg, appellate judge emeritus, told the St. Louis Record.
The application requested information such as Van Amburg’s professional experience, background and cases handled in litigation. At the time she applied to serve on the Court of Appeals, she had already served nine years as judge at St. Louis City Circuit Court.
Van Amburg was appointed to the Eastern District of Missouri by Democratic Governor Jay Nixon in 2012.
“There is the publication of who applies,” she said. “So, the problem for practicing attorneys is once you apply, your name is out there and clients start calling and asking whether you’re leaving them. It's just difficult.”
Van Amburg, who is now a professor of practice at the St. Louis University School of Law, went on to become become chief judge on the appeals court. She retired from the court in 2018.
“The pool of applicants for these Court of Appeal positions usually consist of trial judges, practicing lawyers, and sometimes law professors,” she said.
As previously reported in the St. Louis Record, the nonpartisan Court Plan of 1940 is still being used today to select judges. Known as the Missouri Plan, the selection process is not only merit-based but also non-partisan and is designed to root out pay-to-play decision-making.
“If you're a judge applying and you have a track record of reversals or you have a track record of reputation with respect to your temperament. The commissioners look at that kind of thing,” Van Amburg said in an interview.
Gov. Mike Parson is currently reviewing a panel of nominees submitted by the Appellate Judicial Commission and the Missouri Supreme Court Chief Justice to fill a vacancy in the Southern District created by the retirement of Judge Daniel E. Scott as of Dec. 31. If Gov. Parson doesn’t select a candidate within 60 days, it’s the responsibility of the Appellate Judicial Commissioners to make an appointment, according to the Missouri Constitution.
“There are Commissioners who think that trial judges are the best candidates because they know what the pressures are, how trials work, and the rules of evidence," Van Amburg said.
The panel of three nominees includes 33rd Judicial Circuit Trial Judge David A. Dolan, 39th Judicial Circuit Trial Judge Jack A.L. Goodman, and 38th Judicial Circuit Trial Judge Laura J. Johnson.
“Trial judges usually are the people that populate the appellate courts," Van Amburg added. "There are always errors. I was a trial judge for nine years before I was an appellate judge and I know I made mistakes in my rulings because you just have to make these calls in the trial in real-time but whether the mistake was a reversible mistake is an issue the appellate courts address.”
Van Amburg received her bachelor of arts degree in sociology in 1970 from Washington University and is a 1975 cum laude graduate of St. Louis University School of Law. She began her career as a law clerk at the Missouri Court of Appeals, clerking for Judge Theodore McMillian. In 1975, she co-founded and was partner at the firm Anderson, Everett, Sedey & Van Amburg. In 1981, she joined the firm Schuchat, Cook & Werner, where she became a partner and practiced for 12 years, and then she founded and was partner at Van Amburg, Chackes, Carlson & Spritzer, according to her Missouri courts bio.