Wade Pierce will be sworn in Friday as Butler County associate circuit judge by the man who helped inspire him to enter the legal field, his brother-in-law, Ripley County Associate Circuit Judge Thomas David Swindle.
Pierce then will swear in Swindle, and both will serve in the 36th Judicial Circuit that includes Butler and Ripley counties.
"Dave is not just a brother-in-law, he's been like a brother to me for a lot of years," the 47-year-old Poplar Bluff attorney explained.
Butler County elected officials who are starting new terms in 2019 will be sworn in at 9 a.m. Friday at the Butler County Courthouse.
Pierce was elected in November to a four-year term. All misdemeanor and felony criminal filings in Butler County will initially be heard before Pierce, who will also be busy with a civil docket and juvenile court duties.
He takes the position currently held by longtime Judge John Bloodworth (see main story), who chose not to seek a new term.
It is the realization of a longtime dream, and Swindle was the person who first sparked his interest in the law, said Pierce.
Swindle, who married Pierce's only sister, Angie, in the 1980s, inspired his young brother-in-law to attend law school. Pierce later worked at Swindle's firm in the summers during law school, and Swindle and Nunnery of Doniphan was his first job after law school.
After Pierce got his law degree, he says becoming a judge was soon an ambition. As a practicing attorney, Pierce realized how much he liked being a part of finding solutions to problems.
"I wanted to be a judge here in Butler County because I was born and raised here and I wanted to serve the community. After I got my law degree and found out how much I loved the law, that's just kind of the way I wanted to go," said Pierce, who is married to Kelli and has three children.
Pierce graduated from Poplar Bluff High School in 1988 and Southeast Missouri State University in 1993. He received his law degree from Oklahoma City University in 1996.
Pierce has spent recent months observing Bloodworth's juvenile and truancy courts, areas where he has less experience.
"The other (dockets), I've been doing it for 22 years," said Pierce. "It may be a new job, but it's not something new to me. I've been practicing law for a long time, and I've been a trial attorney. It's not something that's foreign to me."
Pierce has also previously served as an assistant prosecuting attorney for Butler County, and spent more than a decade as prosecutor for the city of Poplar Bluff.
Like all newly elected judges, Pierce will be required to attend a full week of judicial college in January. It's similar to continuing education he did twice a year as assistant prosecutor and prosecutor, only this training is tailored specifically to new judges.
Pierce will preside over his first case Jan. 2, with a civil court docket. He has no plans to make any changes to the current docket schedules.
This is a bittersweet time, he said. While this has long been a dream of his, Pierce will also be leaving the practice Duncan and Pierce, which he started in 2000 with partner Wally Duncan.
Some of the best advice he has received going forward, said Pierce, is something he already planned to do.
"I'm not going to make any drastic changes early on ... and then I'll decide how I want to address certain things, or what positions I want to take regarding certain matters," he said.
Pierce has also observed the decorum and demeanor Swindle maintains in his courtroom, something to which the new judge aspires. Pierce wants to show the people in his own courtroom the same respect.
He also wants to remember that regardless of the situation, for most people who will come into his courtroom, it is not a good time in their life.
"Being mindful of that while we navigate through whatever legal issue needs to be addressed and again treat everyone with dignity and respect, and I think the rest of it will fall into place," said Pierce.