Lawyer objects to job qualifications for judges

State Sen. Jerry O'Neil asks county to rethink new requirements

The Flathead County commissioners say the county's next justices of the peace will have to be licensed attorneys, but state Sen. Jerry O'Neil, R-Columbia Falls, is saying not so fast.

O'Neil, a paralegal who practices before the Blackfeet Tribal Court, has problems with the new job requirements, partly because he had planned to run for the position in this year's elections. Two judges will be elected to Justice Court.

"I was looking forward to filing for the position and when I called the county clerk, they said you have to be a licensed attorney," said O'Neil.

The news came as a surprise to O'Neil, who has tangled over Montana's attorney licensing requirements for years, most recently wrangling with the Montana Bar Association about the extent to which he can practice as a paralegal.

Because of that background, O'Neil said he objects to the new justice of the peace job qualifications as a matter of principle.

"Justice of the peace courts are the courts closest to the people and the one in greatest demand for decision makers with common sense," he wrote in a letter submitted to county commissioners Tuesday morning.

O'Neil cites a list of people who were not licensed attorneys but who he thought managed to be competent justices of the peace.

"The point I am raising is that we have had some very good nonlawyer justices of the peace," he wrote. "I need not remind you there have been a number of attorneys in the Flathead who have been dishonest or otherwise unfit to be a justice of the peace."

O'Neil told the commissioners that the resolution they passed at the end of January may not be technically legal and asked them to reconsider it. The commissioners agreed to do so.

O'Neil said the commissioners have the authority, through resolution, to establish the Justice Court as a "court of record" and they have the authority to raise the salary for the second justice position to $65,000 a year.

That was created last year as a part-time position and will now be full time. But he says changing the job qualifications for the position is something that needs to be done through a more formal process.

Commissioner Gary Hall said the resolution was properly drafted by the county attorney, but he and Commissioner Joe Brenneman have "no problem" revisiting the issue and providing an additional opportunity for public comment.

Hall said the attorney requirement was adopted on the recommendation of current Justice of the Peace David Ortley.

"We felt, upon Mr. Ortley's recommendation mostly, that because of the workload and type of cases that come before that judge we would probably be best served if it was a qualified legal attorney," he said.

The resolution establishes Justice Court as a court of record. Without that designation, cases tried in the court can be appealed automatically to District Court.

With the change, participants in cases at the lower court must show that a legal error was made at the Justice Court level before appealing to District Court.

Proponents of the attorney qualification say that obligates justices to have solid legal backgrounds. The volume of cases that passes through the court also does not allow justices the luxury to learn about the law as they go, proponents say.

The county's second justice of the peace position was filled last year through the appointment of attorney Dale Trigg, who does not plan to seek election.

But O'Neil does.

"It's important for me to keep that branch of government open to the public, and keep it from being taken over by the ABA Party," he said, referring to his belief that the American Bar Association has monopolized the judicial branch of government at nearly every level.

Reporter Jim Mann may be reached at 758-4407 or by e-mail at jmann@dailyinterlake.com.