Image via WikipediaI'm going to Missouri's Lake of the Ozarks today to join in congratulating my friend, Judge Edith L. Messina, on the occasion of her selection as a Dean of the Missouri Bar. This is a huge honor for any lawyer (or judge); it is conferred at the annual "Bench and Bar" meeting at the Lake. I've known Edie for, I think, about 25 years; we first met in the halls of the Jackson County Courthouse, back when she was a public defender, and I was a prosecutor. She was known then as a good, solid lawyer, someone who could do her job well without being a jerk, in the process (you might not be shocked to learn that some lawyers cannot accomplish that... ). Back in those days, she had already finished a tour of duty as a Peace Corps volunteer in Africa; I think that gave her a much deeper insight into the culture of the United States (and, by "culture," I include our criminal justice system). Edie was appointed to the Bench in the '80s, and I tried several cases in her courtroom. Some lawyers undergo a change in personality when the "ascend" to the bench, becoming egotistical and tyrannical; Edie never did that. It was always a pleasure to try a case in front of Edie. It is clear that she deeply cares about the people who appear before her, whether they may be witnesses, litigants, victims, jurors, or lawyers. At some point along the way, she earned a master's degree in counseling psychology. She keeps saying she is thinking about retirement... but as of now, she still presides over Division 12 of the Jackson County Circuit Court, in Kansas City MO.
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