Rotary Program: 6/18/03

Program Chairperson: Eddy Coleman

Speaker: Joseph Lambert, Chief Justice, Kentucky Supreme Court

Joe Lambert is a native of Mount Vernon, Kentucky and still makes his
home there. His wife is a family court judge serving Rockcastle and Pulaski
Counties and they have two sons. In addition to serving as Chief Justice of
the Supreme Court in Kentucky, he is the head administrator of the Office of
the Courts, overseeing the work of hundreds of state employees that work in
the offices of County and Circuit courts in Kentucky. He hears and presides
over all cases in which appeals are made by attorneys to recuse judges in
any civil or criminal litigation as well as preparing and submitting the
judicial budget for the state to the Kentucky General Assembly.

Justice Lambert is here in Pikeville (in addition to being the speaker
at the Rotary meeting) to chair the Judicial Nominating Committee that will
recommend three nominees to fill the vacancy in the Circuit Court - Div. II
left by the retirement of Judge Charles Lowe, Jr. He explained that the
committee consisted, in addition to himself as chairman, of two attorneys
and four citizen- members who are not attorneys and that no more than two of
them belong to the same political party. The committee will closely
scrutinize the resume' and other documentation submitted by each applicant
and choose three names to submit to the Governor, who must, in turn, appoint
from those three a judge to serve out the remainder of Judge Lowe's term.

Then a permanent replacement will be chosen by the people of the area in a
general election to be held in November. Under normal circumstances, he
explained, a primary election is held with all applicants required to
register their intention to run 90-days before. That would narrow the field
down to the two candidates receiving the highest number of votes, but since
the vacancy occurred too late for the time limit, these candidates will have
to take part in a run-off election in the fall with the one person receiving
the greatest number of votes being elected from all the candidates. That
judge will then serve until the end of the year, 2006. Justice Lambert
expressed his assurance to us that, in all his years, he has never witnessed
a nominating committee who did not take this responsibility very seriously
and almost always do a tremendous job in researching each candidates
qualifications and fitness for the job.

In addition to his helping us to understand the process by which our
new judge would be chosen, Justice Lambert also wanted to talk to us about
another subject that he feels is so important, the Family Court System in
Kentucky. What began as an experiment in Jefferson County five years ago to
deal with any cases that involved children and families, from adoption,
divorce, truancy, Beyond Parental Control, to even determining parental
rights, these courts have played a great role in helping relieve the load
from District and Circuit Court judges. Today there are 42 counties
represented by 34 Family Court Judges serving over 2 million people in
Kentucky. That represents only half the population, says Justice Lambert,
and it is his goal to see that every citizen in every county in the state is
served by Family Court by the end of the next ten years. The overwhelming
passage of the amendment to the Kentucky Constitution at the ballot box last
year shows that the people all over the state feel these courts are needed,
and that they will serve the people well in rural areas as well as in urban
settings. The greatest limitation remains in finding the funding needed to
support existing Family Courts and to create new ones in underserved areas
of the state. Creative methods are being sought to find ways to get that
done in the absence of the money needed and to use the funds already
appropriated more efficiently.

The floor was opened for questions at this point and one of note
involved the timing of a new courthouse for Pike County. Justice Lambert
assured us that Pike County was high on the list for new facilities, but
with the current economic situation in the state, it was a matter of getting
started on the list at all. Still he hoped it will be soon to see the plans
for a new courthouse become a reality. Thanks, your honor, for being with
us today. Submitted by J. Morgan Chapman.