Nominees announced for Missouri Court of Appeals, Eastern District vacancy

The Appellate Judicial Commission announced three nominees to fill a judicial vacancy at the Missouri Court of Appeals, Eastern District.

The vacancy was created after Cristian M. Stevens was appointed to the federal bench, the commission said in a news release.

“The commission unanimously supports the three nominees,” it stated. “After approximately five hours of public interviews, approximately two hours of deliberations and 10 rounds of balloting, the nominees are Joseph L. Goff Jr., Kathleen S. Hamilton and Joan M. Lockwood.”

Goff is a partner with Armstrong Teasdale and obtained his law degree from Saint Louis University; Hamilton is a litigation attorney and partner at HeplerBroom who obtained her law degree from the University of Missouri; and Lockwood is a partner at Gray Ritter Graham and an adjunct professor of trial advocacy at Saint Louis University, from which she received her law degree.

All three attorneys’ practices based in St. Louis and each received seven votes from the commission.

Gov. Mike Kehoe has 60 days to choose a candidate to fill the vacancy.