Bar Association recommends two judges for retention
NORRISTOWN >> Two Montgomery County judges seeking retention in November’s general election have received recommendations from the Montgomery Bar Association.
The Autonomous Judiciary Committee of the Montgomery Bar Association recently recommended that judges Thomas C. Branca and Richard P. Haaz be retained. Judges serve 10-year terms.
Branca was first elected to the county bench in 2001 and was previously retained in 2011. Haaz was elected to the bench in 2011 and is seeking his first retention.
The committee is charged with interviewing and rating candidates for the position of judge on the county’s Court of Common Pleas. The judiciary committee is composed of the bar association’s ten most recent past presidents and a rotating panel of 24 lawyers with diverse backgrounds and experience and from various geographical areas of the county and possessing several hundred
years of combined legal experience, according to bar association officials.
The committee is charged with rating a sitting judge seeking retention as “recommended” or “not recommended” for retention.
The committee considers and rates the candidates on the following criteria: integrity; good moral character; industry; good health; legal ability; bench trial, jury trial or evidentiary hearing experience; and judicial temperament, including patience, courtesy, compassion, impartiality, humility, even temper and sense of fairness.
Officials said the rating process is a public service intended to fairly evaluate the candidates and to educate the public regarding the candidates and the evaluation.
Established in 1885 to professionalize the county’s practice of law, the Montgomery Bar Association is one of our nation’s oldest bar associations, representing more than 2,100 legal professionals in the county.