44 seek out appellate judgeship in Western District

More than 40 attorneys have applied to fill an opening on the Missouri Court of Appeals Western District, the Appellate Judicial Commission released this afternoon.The vacancy is left by Judge Hal Lowenstein, who retired in August after 28 years on the appellate bench.

The commission received 44 applications, which included 12 women and 32 men. Of those were two minority applicants and 42 non-minority applicants.

The commission is set to meet at 11 a.m. Thursday at the Supreme Court Building, at 207 W. High Street in Jefferson City, to choose three nominees for the governor’s consideration.

Twenty-two of the applicants came from the Kansas City area, while 22 came from other areas of the Western District, according to the commission.

Twenty private attorneys applied, 11 of whom work at solo practices or small law firms, while 24 legal professionals in the public sector applied for the post. Twenty-one of them hail from state governmental agencies, including six trial judges.

The mean age of the applicants is 51.