Judge of the Day: Michael Edwards
Many ‘08 law school grads are about to take a step up to second year associate level at Biglaw firms across the land. You’re feeling pretty proud? And lucky to have a Biglaw gig these days, right?
Well, eat your hearts out. Michael Edwards, Georgetown Law ‘08 grad, has already been appointed a judge. He took his seat on the bench in Indiana City Court on Tuesday. From WTHI TV:
The Indiana Supreme Court appointed a new attorney to become a temporary judge in a southern Indiana City Court. Michael Edwards is a Naval Academy graduate, former Marine, and now the city court judge in Bicknell.
A Georgetown classmate tipped us off to the news:
This is one of my friends from GULC’s class of 2008. Already a judge! Ridiculous!
So how’d Edwards come to the attention of the Indiana Supreme Court? Judge Edwards’ ascension to the bench is a result of malfeasance by a prior judge, but was also due in part to a pushed back start date at a Chicago Biglaw firm.
Andrew Moreland, the judge previously on the bench, got caught with his hands in the court’s cookie jar. From the Evansville Courier & Press via Indiana Law Blog:
A Knox County, Ind., judge and his wife were arrested Wednesday for allegedly stealing thousands of dollars in traffic fines from the court’s account.Bicknell City Judge Andrew Moreland, 45, and his wife, Cindy Moreland, 38, turned themselves in at the Knox County Jail about 9 a.m. and were then released on bond, Indiana State Police said.
They each are facing five counts of theft, a class D felony.
Moreland and his wife stole $21,000 from the court’s traffic fines account over 2008 and 2009. Moreland is not an attorney; he was elected and had been on the bench since January 1, 2008. Apparently, it didn’t take him long to get into trouble.
We sent Judge Edwards a Facebook message asking about his relatively quick costume change from cap and gown — he graduated from Georgetown in October 2008 — to judicial robe:
Through law school, my dream was to return to southern Indiana and do the small town Atticus Finch thing. I was heading to one of the largest firms in Chicago to work in their litigation group, however, because of my staggering loans.When my start date kept getting pushed back, I looked around for other options. I graduated from Annapolis and spent six years in the Marines before GULC, so I also had a military background. The Navy made me an offer to work for them as a civilian on a special project called SBX-1 at a base in southern Indiana where I’d use my military background and my JD. Anyway, the pay was better than BIGLAW with the cost of living difference, and the offer afforded me the opportunity to return to my hometown in southern Indiana and take some clients on the side.
I had just received my Indiana bar results in October while on a trip to Hawaii. A local judge (Knox County, IN) contacted me with the news that the Indiana Supreme Court needed a temporary replacement for a local city judge under indictment. I sent my resume to Chief Justice Shepard, and I was selected for the spot.
Edwards downplays the prestige of his position:
A bit about the city judge position: Indiana has 92 counties, each with a complement of county (district court) judges. In addition, Indiana has 75 city and town judges, each elected to a four-year term. I believe that I am currently the youngest one in the state. Anyway, they hear misdemeanors, infractions, and city ordinance violations, normally one evening per week. Also, they are not required to be licensed attorneys. …. So, the job itself is not quite on the same prestige level as clerking at SCOTUS, but I was flattered to be considered for it and excited to be selected.
It’s been a busy month for Edwards. He found out he passed the bar at the beginning of October. He went to Hawaii for two weeks (see right), got married on November 7, and founded his own law firm yesterday, Michael Edwards Law Center LLC.
And he’s hiring. He says he’s currently sorting his judicial files and will soon hire and train a clerk.
Temporary judge appointed in Bicknell [WTHI TV]
Knox County judge accused of stealing thousands from court [Evansville Courier & Press via Indiana Law Blog]
(76) Comments
Comments
Kash: Please pass this onto Elie. Thanks.
END THE SCHTICKS !!!
Elie - Can we place a limit on acceptable schticks? I say once a week we vote a schtick off the island until we reach some arbitrary number like 14.
Certain schitcks are annoying but mainstays: Partner E.;
Others are annoying but possibly helpful: Restatement 90 folks;
Some are timely: the guillotine guy and Michael Ray; and
Others are pure classics: Frat Stud.
However, we have reached saturation and what the hell are the dudes from Spinal Tap and the Aflack duck doing on a legal board?!
I haven't heard of "GULC". Is this school accredited and in good standing with the ABA? Or is it one of these night school deals? Please inform.
nice story. bravo dude!
ditto 3
Oh yeah - go Navy!
S/F
Sounds like the prior judge just engaged in malfeasance for malfeasance's sake.
Can we end the "END THE SHTICKS" shtick?
Frankly, comments aren't that valuable anyway and I find great joy in the new schticks. The only substantive comments come from uninformed pre-law undergrads pretending to be practicing attorneys giving advice about the direction the legal profession is taking. They parrot crap they heard (don't know anything about) on XOXO and other crappy sites.
Call PETA. It looks like his wife is fisting a parrot.
WOW. Major kudos.
And now the nitpicking and making fun of his looks and that of his wife begins in 3...2...1...
NOW DO ALL OF YOU OTHER DEFERRED ASSOCIATES SEE WHAT YOU COULD DO IF YOU WOULD JUST GET YOURSELVES IN GEAR?
And a hearty Semper Fi, Mike.
This guy is no Iron Eagle.
Doug Masters, United States Air Force Academy
Where are PE and JaKe? Should we send a search party to Rick's?
I think I am in love!
I'm happy for the guy, but those are not parrots.
THIS is a parrot.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9T1vfsHYiKY
KAKAPO SECURE
Because Obama's father was a citizen of the UK, Obama is not a natural born citizen and therefore constitutionally ineligible to be President.
Why won't the mainstream media cover this story?
I like some schticks. What happened to Mrs. Lat? I can do without Firsting. It's so old already.
A friend I worked with during high school years is already a magistrate judge in Pennsylvania: Laura Turlip Murphy.
http://www.lackawannabar.org/offices/magistrates.html
I think she graduated law school a few years earlier than I did, perhaps in 2003 or so, but she was a judge by 2006, maybe even earlier. Young judges can happen though, especially at the city / magistrate level.
Congratulations man. Very impressive, and thank you for your service.
11, that was hilarious by the way.
What a beautiful bird!...and the parrot ain't too shabby either.
Dude has life by the balls (and during a recession)! Maybe the next Patrick Murhpy (D).
Does anyone know what law firm he's going to? I'm rather curious . . .
1, people who live in glass houses...
Those parrots are posers. I have true beauty.
Quack.
*sends my resume to president obama in hopes of doing the same thing this lad did, but only at the federal level*
-nervous T-10 2L
Jesus. This guy had more luck in a month than i've had my entire life!
He traveled to Hawaii and paid someone $5 to let some parrots shit on himself and his new bride.
Judge Edwards has been in the Navy and the Marines. I think his next stop will be at an Air Force base.
I make my own luck.
Capt. Chappy Sinclair, USAF Retired
more parrots please
Haha oh man.... http://trueslant.com/KashmirHill/2009/11/18/kashmir-hill-nude-search-terminology/
can we have a story about the parrots?
24,
Right behind you.
From GULC to MELC
are the parrots on vacation too or do they live there?
i too was wondering about the parrots. they're the real story here
Unfortunately, this parrot is no more. He has ceased to be.
- Lt. Col. John Hannibal Smith (Ret.)
Screw the parrots, where are the pics of Kash's beaver?
Doug Masters
@1: Guys in my high school used to get appointed by the state supreme court to temporary city-court judgeships to replace criminally corrupt incumbents all the time, it was no big deal.
@1: Guys in my high school used to get appointed by the state supreme court to temporary city-court judgeships to replace criminally corrupt incumbents all the time, it was no big deal.
Semper Fi Marine.
Well done.
the kash photos were sold to vivid video. she took them when she was a teenager and really regrets it!
WIN!
Gone are the glorious days of Underneath Their Robes when an appointment to a state court position would be *untouchable* material.
Attention unidentified aircraft, this is Major Dwight Smiley of the United States Air Force, you are following one of our F-16s in international airspace, do you wish to engage?
I didn't think so.
-Maj. Dwight Smiley
What's the matter, 11? Feeling a little bitter about seven losses to Navy in a row???
'95 says BEAT ARMY!!!!!
He looks just like Pete Bondurant.
He looks just like Pete Bondurant.
Semper Fi, brother.
I say, good for him. He served his country in the military, and now he's serving his state as a judge. I think he has a bright future ahead of him.
I would have done the same, were I not medically barred from military service.
I knew that guy in law school. He was a genius. He tutored people when he wasn't helping old ladies across the street.
Judge Edwards Admirer
49 - Why didn't he help old ladies actually CROSS the street? He just helped them after they were already across it? Perhaps this should have come up in his confirmation hearings...
Impressive. Hot wife. Beat Army.
... and NYC to 190.
Awesome. Cheers me up.
Now back to practice exams....
My MPRE review course told me that you can't practice law while a judge???
Nice work, fellah!
You should go to the casino while your luck is running so good
Beat Army.
What year did the good judge graduate Canoe U.?
Methinks his class was the last to have a real plebe year...
Beat Army
2001
GULC to T13!
GULC to T13!
You want to know about the parrots? Assuming he was on Oahu (Waikiki), those seem like the same parrots that were there when I was there in August. Across the street from the beachfront hotels there is a street peddler who has these parrots that you pay to take your picture with. They are talented and do tricks, we watched one play dead, among other things. That area in front of the international market is filled with things of this sort: there is also a Jamaican man playing steel drums and a man who paints himself entirely silver that people take pictures with.
God I miss Hawaii. So much better than being a lawyer.
Good to know that graduates of small trade schools in maryland can still rise to greatness.
Nonsense, 56.
'95 had the last real plebe year.
The Trade School...
8,
That makes no sense. You can see her fingers.
Nice story. The comments section? Not so much...and I'm afraid the "no schtick" guy is becoming schtick...I hate it when that happens.
50: What he does is he stands on one side of the street and looks for old ladies on the other side. He then shouts out stuff like, "Are you looking for something? Can I be of assistance?"
None of this adds up. He went to Hawaii before he got married? Who does that? Also, why is he just now passing the bar if he graduated in '08?
Deferred by K&L Gates (formerly Bell Boyd):
http://www.trumanproject.org/programs/fellowship/people/michael-edwards
This doesn't explain how he worked for a year in the Knox County Office of the Prosecuting Attorney without being admitted to the bar, though.
you folks do realize that "temporary city judge in a small town in Indiana" is not exactly like being a real judge, right?
67: He went to Hawaii before he got married because he was on official business for the Navy for part of the trip. The Hawaii trip went by the Navy's schedule, not his.
By the time he decided against Chicago, it was too late to register for the February '09 Indiana bar.
68: He did not work there for a year. He was there for a few months, and he won a bench trial there sitting first chair. Indiana allows a gig like that for someone who has not taken the bar so long as a licensed attorney supervises.
69: You're right. Of course, if you stand up and do something stupid while his court is in session, the fine and/or jail time for contempt of court you receive will feel quite real.
This is all fishy... who graduates in October?
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Who graduates in October and then doesn't pass the bar until October of the following year?
73: see 70. Read carefully and slowly. Try not to move your lips.
73: see 70. Read carefully and slowly. Try not to move your lips.
70 doesn't explain why he graduated in October. It also doesn't explain why he didn't pass the Feb '09 Illinois bar. Presumably, if he was planning on Chicago until it was too late, he had already paid all the fees and did all the paperwork in Illinois. Why not take it at that point?