When Southern District Court of Appeals Judge Gary Lynch heard that Missouri Supreme Court Judge Paul C. Wilson was elected chief justice by fellow jurists on the seven-member high court, he had mixed emotions.
“I was very disappointed because Judge Wilson is the liaison from the Supreme Court to the Missouri Court Automation Committee and that means I lose Judge Wilson on my court automation committee,” said Lynch, who chairs that committee. “But I am happy for the Missouri judiciary, of course.”
Originally from Jefferson City, Judge Wilson replaced Judge George W. Draper III as Missouri Supreme Court’s chief justice on July 1.
“The Missouri Supreme Court has a rule that a chief justice cannot serve on any committees, which is a good rule,” Lynch told the St. Louis Record.
Draper served two years as chief justice.
“It doesn't have to be a two-year term but that is traditionally what it has been for decades and they traditionally rotate through each member of the court,” Lynch said.
Wilson clerked at the Supreme Court of Missouri and then the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit before becoming a litigation associate at the New York law firm Sullivan & Cromwell, according to a press release. He returned to Missouri in 1996 to work in the attorney general’s office as deputy chief of staff for litigation and, later, as counsel for budget and finance in the office of administration, which Judge Lynch said adequately prepared him for his current position as chief justice.
“The public doesn't see the administrative part that all judges participate in,” Lynch said. “They see the written opinions and read articles about the written opinions but a lot of what Supreme Court judges do and, in particular, the chief justice does, is the administrative part of operating a statewide judiciary that has more than 5,000 people working in it.”
W. Brent Powell replaces Judge Wilson on the Missouri Court Automation Committee.
“There's a new understanding of automation statewide due to the pandemic and I think Judge Wilson has been right in the middle of that,” Lynch said. “He was always very thoughtful and deliberate in making decisions, knowing all the facts and making the best decisions based on those facts. We talked quite a bit about court automation issues and the best way I could describe him is ‘always prepared.'”
Wilson earned his undergraduate degree from Drury College in Springfield and his law degree, cum laude, from the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Law, where he was named to both the Order of the Coif and the Order of the Barristers.
“Missouri's really fortunate in the way we select our Supreme Court judges because it gives us seven extremely capable people, all of whom can do an excellent job as chief justice,” Lynch added. “There's just no exceptions to that. Judge Wilson is an exceptional individual and I have no doubt he will do an excellent job for Missouri.”