Thomas C. Clark began his law career as a St. Louis assistant circuit attorney and was first appointed to the judiciary in 2006 where he served as an associate circuit judge and a circuit judge but by February 2021, Clark was appointed to the Eastern District Missouri Court of Appeals by Gov. Mike Parson.
Just this month, he was elected the appellate court’s chief judge by his peers.
“I am honored to serve the public, the members of the bar and my judicial colleagues as the next chief judge,” Clark said in a news release. “I will work hard to emulate the high personal and professional standards of my predecessors.”
Clark will fill the remainder of Judge Kelly Broniec’s term as the appellate court’s top administrator because Broniec left to replace retired Missouri Supreme Court Judge George Draper III after being appointed by Gov. Parson.
Draper stepped down the day before his 70th birthday on August 5 because under a provision of the Missouri Constitution, if a judge is still in office on their 70th birthday, they forfeit their pension, which encourages the judiciary to retire before 70 years old.
Not all members of the legal industry agree with the age limit.
“At our law firm, we don't have a mandatory retirement age,” said Chris Hohn, an attorney at Thompson Coburn law firm. “There are a number of lawyers across our firm, and I see this at other firms where lawyers can be very, very effective into their seventies and beyond even.”
Hohn was recently elected chair of the prestigious St. Louis law firm, effective in August 2024 while Clark began his term as Chief Judge on September 25, and it ends next year on December 31.
"We just felt like it was never really appropriate to pick a number and say someone needs to retire by that point in time because we've seen some very productive partners continue to practice and serve their clients very well," Hohn added. "So, in the world I work in, we don't have those kinds of age limits."
Clark earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Kansas and a Masters and Juris Doctorate from Saint Louis University.
He is a member of The Missouri Bar, has been appointed to the Supreme Court of Missouri’s commission on domestic violence and human trafficking, and is active in the leadership of Boy Scouts of America as well as St. James Catholic Church.