Judges Go Back to School Every Year Too – Muddy River News

Perhaps, like me, you are witnessing the many “back to school” offerings as students from primary school through university and post-secondary education prepare to return to school.

Did you know that Missouri judges are also preparing to go back to school? All Missouri judges (and attorneys as well) are required to complete 15 hours of continuing legal education each year, including three hours of ethics training. To ensure that judges can meet their continuing legal education requirements, we offer “judicial colleges” to assist appellate judges, trial judges, judicial commissioners, and senior judges in their judicial roles.

To minimize disruption to caseloads and litigants, judges can choose from two law school offerings each year—in August or November—that feature the same courses and speakers, just in different locations. Each law school is a four-day event that features updates on civil, criminal, domestic relations, and evidentiary matters, as well as professionalism and ethics. The courses are designed by a state committee of judges and are taught by experts in each subject, often veteran Missouri judges. Some classes are taught by judges and other legal experts from around the country.

While the law school is the largest judicial training program offered annually, it is not the only opportunity for judges to learn substantive updates on the latest legislative session, recent Supreme Court and Court of Appeals decisions, and best practices for handling cases.

All new judges and commissioners are required to attend a week-long orientation each January. Our circuit presiding judges also have an educational component to their meetings held each spring and fall. Our professional judges attend an educational “professional forum” each June. Additionally, plenary educational sessions are offered for judges each fall at the annual meeting of the Judicial Conference of Missouri (the state’s organization of judges), which is held in conjunction with the annual meeting of the Missouri Bar (the state’s organization of lawyers).

But that’s not all. Specialized training is available annually for municipal, probate and associate circuit judges, as well as an advanced litigation skills workshop. A key to the success of these types of legal education offerings is the support of the legal education staff in our state courts administrator’s office.

Collectively, there are many great educational sessions each year that are geared specifically toward judges to accommodate all of our schedules and areas of focus. This year, I particularly enjoyed learning about artificial intelligence at our professional forum, and I look forward to upcoming law school courses on the impact of AI on discovery and evidence; an updated risk assessment tool to help judges make pretrial release decisions; and ways to mitigate the vicious trauma judges can experience from presiding over emotionally charged and sometimes heartbreaking cases.

As you or your friends or family members prepare to go back to school this fall, know that Missouri’s judges will be there too, taking their own courses at the law school.

Maria R. Russell
Chief Justice
Missouri Supreme Court
Jefferson City, Missouri