Juvenile Court’s Secret Hiring Process for Judges Falls Under Scrutiny

Attorneys working in the Juvenile Court worry about the court's lack of diversity among judges (photo via Getty Images)

On June 1, a group of judges were preparing to appoint a new associate judge to Travis County's somewhat-ignored Juvenile Court when attorney Skip Davis asked them to put their decision on hold. Davis didn't get the postponement he wanted in the end, but his request has raised interesting questions about the health of the court.

Juvenile Court is a hugely important institution in Travis County that few are familiar with, Davis told us. The court handles the cases of children accused of committing crimes, everything from theft to murder. It is presided over by one elected judge – Rhonda Hurley of the 98th District Court – and three associate judges, who are appointed by the Juvenile Board, which is made up of every elected district judge in the county – all 21 of them – plus County Judge Andy Brown.

Davis has practiced law in Travis County for over two decades and knows many of the judges on the Juvenile Board personally. So he felt comfortable addressing them in direct terms as they prepared for their vote on the new juvenile judge. "Not one of you – not one of you – spoke about juvenile justice when you were running for office," Davis told the judges, looking around the room. "Because it didn't matter to you. It wasn't in your wheelhouse. Now, we've got this curious situation where we're fixing to change the juvenile justice system without really having any input from the public."

Actually, Davis was availing himself of the one sliver of public input allowed by the process – he was speaking during the public comment portion of the meeting, before the judges' vote. But he was asking the judges to carve out a much larger role for the public. "I think we need to have some sort of meeting where we can put together the stakeholders of juvenile justice so the process is not comprised solely of judges," he said. "That's our problem. The process is comprised solely of judges, the upper echelon, if you will, of society, that does not have any contact with my people."

By "my people," Davis meant the children who find themselves standing before a juvenile court judge. Maggie Ellis, the chair-elect of the state bar's Juvenile Law Section, also considers these children to be her people. "These are the most vulnerable members of our community," Ellis told the Chronicle. "The majority of the children in the juvenile justice system have trauma, live at or below the poverty line, and many of them are dually involved with the Child Protective Services system."

After Davis' comments, the judges spoke in private for an hour, and then unanimously selected Elizabeth "Libby" Lawson for the open associate judge position. Lawson is a career prosecutor, well-respected and well-liked, but not board-certified in juvenile law – meaning she hasn't worked extensively in juvenile law, as most Juvenile Court judges have. Most recently, she was one of the three assistant district attorneys who successfully prosecuted Army Sgt. Daniel Perry for the murder of Black Lives Matter protester Garrett Foster.

Judge Hurley told the Chronicle that the process for electing associate judges is confidential by state law. "The hiring process for this position follows a traditional process," Hurley said, "a review by the personnel committee of all applications received, selection of the top applicants for interviews, and selection of a candidate after the interviews are complete. This process was established by the judges many years ago and has been consistently followed for the hiring of all Associate Judges."

In researching this story, we spoke with four Juvenile Court attorneys and stakeholders who wished to remain anonymous to protect their jobs. Davis and the four unnamed sources told us that Lawson, a white woman, competed for the position with several people of color, all with experience as assistant district attorneys in Travis County. They say it's been many years since a person of color has been hired as an associate judge. "This is the fourth time in the last six years that a white person has been appointed over other well-qualified, nonwhite candidates," Davis told us. "Ami Larson, Brad Temple, Patricia Cum­mings, and now Libby Lawson. They are all white in a sea of brown and Black kids."

Our sources also told us that the abrupt resignation of the most recently hired associate judge – Patricia Cummings – was very unusual. Cummings, who is being replaced by Lawson, is a longtime Austin attorney with a wealth of experience in juvenile law. She was hired in December but quit after only six months and has not commented publicly on why she gave up a job that could have put her in position to run for Hurley's seat, in the event Hurley were to retire. Cum­mings chose not to comment for this story.