Special Meeting for Nominations to Fill the Judicial Vacancy in the 12th Judicial Circuit

The Honorable Frederick G. Rockwell, III is retiring from the 12th Judicial Circuit, which will result in a vacancy in Chesterfield Circuit Court.  We will hold a Special Meeting to accept nominations to fill the judicial vacancy on Wednesday, November 3, 2021 at 4:00 p.m. in the General District Court (Courtroom D).

Pursuant to Article V of the Chesterfield Bar Association’s Bylaws: No person shall vote at any meeting except a member of the Association present at the meeting, and in good standing as of the date of the notice of the meeting, but all such members so present may vote on any matter. Therefore, only those who are members in good standing as of today’s notice are eligible to vote.  

Pursuant to Article VI of the Chesterfield Bar Association’s Bylaws, the procedure for the endorsement of judicial candidates is as follows: 

1). Nominations from the floor shall be called for by the President, Erica Baez.  No seconding nomination speeches shall be allowed.  Speeches shall be limited to five (5) minutes in duration.

2). Each nominee shall be rated by the Association to be “Highly Qualified”, “Qualified”, or “Not Qualified” to fill the vacancy being considered in the following manner: 

(a)  The pool of candidates shall first be rated as “Not Qualified”, or “Qualified”;

(b) Those candidates who receive a rating of “Qualified” shall then be voted on to determine which are to be rated “Qualified”, or “Highly Qualified”.

3)  The President and the persons who have nominated candidates will be charged with the responsibility of counting the ballots.  They will then rank the candidates by those with the most “Highly Qualified” ratings. The ratings and votes tallied shall be made public.  

4). The President will certify to the appointing authority the names of the endorsed candidates, the rank, the rating, the number of votes received by each candidate, and any comments which the Executive Committee deems appropriate.  She will request that the judicial vacancies be filled by candidates on the list that has received a rating of “Highly Qualified” or “Qualified.”

5). The nominees will be notified by the President of the endorsement made by the Chesterfield Bar Association and any additional comments of the Executive Committee to the appointing authority. 

Article VI of the Bylaws further requires an assurance from any nominated person that he/she will accept the nomination if tendered. Therefore, we strongly encourage all members who wish to submit an individual for nomination on November 3, 2021 to provide the nomination in writing prior to the meeting. All names of individuals being nominated may be sent to our President, Erica Baez, at erica@hatcherbaez.com, and she shall contact the nominee for their assurance prior to voting.