Personal and Family Information

• Born in St. Louis, Missouri on June 17, 1950
• Married to Grace Glenn May 23, 1981
• Two children, Samantha, a recent graduate of the University of California at Santa Barbara with a degree in Environmental and Global Studies, and Emily, a junior at the University of Colorado at Boulder

Experience

• Private practice, 1977-78
• Elected Magistrate Judge of the Circuit Court of the City of St. Louis, 1978
• Associate Circuit Judge of the Circuit Court of the City of St. Louis from 1979-1988
• Circuit Judge of the Circuit Court of the City of St. Louis from 1988-1997
• Assistant Presiding Judge of the Circuit Court of the City of St. Louis, 1993-95
• Presiding Judge of the Circuit Court of the City of St. Louis, 1995-97
• Supreme Court Presiding Judges Executive Committee, 1995-96
• First judge of the City of St. Louis Drug Court
• Judge, Missouri Court of Appeals, Eastern District, 1997-2002
• Served as Chief Judge of the Missouri Court of Appeals, Eastern District, 2000-01
• Served on the Missouri Supreme Court by invitation of the Chief Justice
• Currently engaged in the private practice of law. My practice includes commercial litigation, products liability, appeals, real estate and construction litigation. I have appeared in the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit; the United States District Court, Eastern District of Missouri; the United States District Court, Central District of Illinois; the United States District Court of Arizona; the Missouri Supreme Court; the Missouri Court of Appeals, Eastern District; and numerous circuit courts in Missouri.

Judicial

• While serving as a judge on the Circuit Court of the City of St. Louis, I presided over thousands of criminal, civil, probate, and equity cases. Served in a civil equity division hearing all cases sounding in equity, including declaratory judgment actions involving insurance contracts, trusts, statutes and ordinances, election contests, motions to enforce settlement, injunctions, temporary restraining orders, land tax cases, the right to arbitration pursuant to contract, administrative review matters, Sunshine Law cases, constructive trusts, partitions, and discrimination under Title VII, Missouri Human Rights Acts, and mandamus actions.
• As Presiding Judge of the Circuit Court of the City of St. Louis, which is a 31 Judge court of general jurisdiction, my duties included general supervisory authority over court personnel, the annual assignment of all judges to their respective divisions, managing the division one trial and motion dockets, a well as exercising authority over the court's budget, local court rules, court automation, operational support and public education. The administrative duties of my position also included making committee assignments and naming the chairpersons for all nine standing committees of the Court. I established the agenda for and presided over all regular and emergency Court en banc sessions, presided over meetings of the Advisory Committee to the Presiding Judge, monitored all dockets pursuant to Supreme Court Rule 17, and sought to establish compliance with the time standards as set out in Rule 17. I also acted as spokesperson for the Court in all matters involving the press and the public. I presented the Court's budget to the members of the Board of Estimate and Apportionment for the City of St. Louis which is comprised of the Mayor, the President of the Board of Aldermen, and the Comptroller.
• A major part of my daily responsibilities as Presiding Judge of the Circuit Court of the City of St. Louis entailed presiding over Division One's motion and trial dockets. In that capacity, I presided over all pretrial proceedings in civil cases until they were ready for trial. Presiding over the Division One motion docket entails ruling on virtually all motions for summary judgment, to dismiss, to make more definite and certain, for continuances, default judgments, judgments on the pleadings, motions to compel discovery, for sanctions, and any other pre-trial motion permitted under the applicable Supreme Court Rules. The cases included all types of negligence cases,
• i.e., auto, medical, legal, accounting, premises liability, as well as products liability, breach of contract, race, sex and age discrimination cases.

Activities Pursuant to Canon 4

Canon 4 of the Code of Judicial Conduct contemplates that a judge should work to improve the administration of justice.  Toward that end, during my tenure as a Circuit Judge, I was involved in a number of activities that were supplemental to my official duties. 

Work with the Mental Health Association

I worked with the Mental Health Association in creating a training program on Civil Commitment process and procedures to be used by Law Enforcement agencies across the state.  The program was designed to inform and educate law enforcement officers about Missouri law as it relates to the civil commitment process and their responsibilities when they come in contact with a mentally ill citizen.  Once this program was established, I taught at several of the initial sessions presented to the St. Louis City and County police academies.

City Jail

I worked with the Mayor and the Board of Aldermen to build a major, up-to-date, no frills, maximum security jail adjacent to the criminal courts building.  The lack of adequate pretrial detention and jail space was a problem for the City of St. Louis for more than twenty years.  I worked with the Mayor and the Board of Aldermen to build a major, up-to-date, no frills, maximum security jail adjacent to the criminal courts building.  My meeting with the Mayor and all interested members of the law enforcement community was the first significant step taken toward solving this problem.  I met with the members of the Board of Aldermen individually and in small groups to gain their support for this long overdue improvement in our criminal justice system. 

I served on the site selection committee for the City, and publicly supported and defended the decision to build a 650 bed facility next to the Federal Courthouse.  I worked with the engineers and architects toward designing a jail that will not only meet our present needs, but will meet the needs of the City of St. Louis for decades to come.

New Criminal Court

I worked with Senator Eagleton, the offices of Congressman Gephardt, the Mayor, Comptroller and the President of the Board of Aldermen, and with the General Services Administration to acquire the existing Federal Courthouse upon the completion of the Thomas F. Eagleton Federal Building.  This acquisition provided a facility for the conduct of all criminal matters in the City of St. Louis.  The facility was far superior to the existing criminal court building because it provided the Court with additional courtrooms and office space for the overcrowded Circuit Attorney, Public Defender, Sheriff, and Clerks.  The successful acquisition of this facility has ensured that the Circuit Court's space needs will be filled well into the future.

Missouri Court of Appeals and the Old Post Office

Upon my appointment to the Missouri Court of Appeals, I realized the court faced serious long-term space and security problems.  When I became the Chief Judge of the Court of Appeals in 2000, one of my main objectives was to find a new and permanent home for the Missouri Court of Appeals.  I discovered that there were floundering efforts to restore the Old Post Office in the heart of downtown St. Louis to its former glory and usefulness.  The third and fourth floors of that building (where the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit originally sat) appeared to be a perfect fit for the Court of Appeals.

In the Court of Appeals' quest to make the Old Post Office the permanent home of the Court, we made formal presentations of our plan to both houses of the Missouri Legislature, the General Services Administration, the Board of Alderman, and also presented at public hearings.  The Missouri House and Senate passed legislation authorizing the Missouri Development Finance Board to enter into a land swap with the General Services Administration that resulted in transfer of the title to this historic National Landmark building to the people of the State of Missouri.  The Missouri Court of Appeals moved into its permanent home in the Old Post Office in 2004.