Recently I had the pleasure of meeting with Samantha Schosberg Feuer (pronounced like “fewer”). She is a candidate for Circuit Court Judge for the 15th Judicial Circuit. That is, for Palm Beach County.
Mrs. Schosberg Feuer’s legal career has mainly consisted of working as a prosecutor and for the Florida Attorney General in “consumer protection.” Her campaign website is named Samantha For Judge. She also has a long list of “community involvement” such as being past president of the Florida Association of Women Lawyers. She is certainly well qualified for the position.
There are certain things I look for in a judge. One critical piece is courtroom experience. There are some lawyers who run for judge after spending their careers mostly outside courtrooms. That worries those of us who do spend time in court. Schosberg Feuer clearly has substantial trial experience, so she ticks off that box favorably.
She also makes a good impression in person – sharp and clearly knows what she’s doing. She has a lot of energy, and I worry a little that she will try to control the courtroom too much. That can make it hard for the attorneys to do their jobs.
I was mostly impressed with her. She’s clearly on the ball when it comes to the harsh ethics rules that come into play when you run for judge. Something I find helpful with trial lawyers is to ask questions that give them an opportunity to tell stories. A lawyer who’s had a lot of trials will have a lot of stories to tell. And good trial lawyers are also good story tellers. It goes with the job. I did not find her stories compelling. But that’s important in a lawyer, not in a judge.
Here’s a video of the press conference when she announced her run:
We are not making any endorsement decision yet. We are waiting to hear from other candidates, both in judge races and others. So far we will be meeting with one other candidate from the other contested Circuit Court race. Hopefully others will contact us and we will be able to provide more information to our readers.
