Justice Lambert to retire

Special to The Record

Sat, May 17 2008

— FRANKFORT — After a decade as chief justice and nearly 22 years as a justice of the Supreme Court of Kentucky, Chief Justice Joseph E. Lambert has decided to leave the court and join the Senior Judge Program. His resignation will be effective June 27, 2008.
"We have made great progress in the last decade to improve Kentucky courts and make them more responsive to the needs of Kentucky's families and children," said Chief Justice Lambert. "As with any individual's efforts, however, there comes a time to move on.
"I believe it's a mistake to remain for too long in a high-level position in government," he said. "When I became chief justice, it was with the full intention of serving only two four-year terms. However, due to a massive number of judicial elections in 2006 and due to significant changes in the makeup of the Supreme Court at that time, I felt a duty to stay through the period of transition. I'm happy to say that the Court of Justice continues to operate smoothly and this is an appropriate time for me to move on to other professional opportunities."
Chief Justice Lambert, 59, was first elected to the Supreme Court in 1986 from the 27 southeastern Kentucky counties of the 3rd Supreme Court District (which includes McCreary County). He was subsequently re-elected in 1994 and 2002. He become Kentucky's fourth chief justice in October 1998 by a vote of his fellow justices. Chief Justice Lambert was later re-elected to two additional four-year terms as chief justice, in 2002 and in 2006.
Reflecting on his tenure, Chief Justice Lambert said, "Serving on the Supreme Court and as chief justice has been the greatest privilege of my life. I have had the honor of serving with 26 outstanding men and women, every one of whom has been a fine legal scholar and a thoroughly honorable person."
Seven justices sit on the Supreme Court, Kentucky's highest court. They are elected from seven appellate court districts and serve eight-year terms. The Kentucky Constitution provides that the justices elect one of their fellow justices to serve as chief justice for a term of four years. The chief justice is executive head of the statewide judicial system. He oversees the Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) in Frankfort and the 4,000 statewide employees of the Kentucky Court of Justice, including elected justices, judges and circuit court clerks. The chief justice proposes a biennial budget to the General Assembly and executes the Judicial Branch budget.
During Chief Justice Lambert's 10-year tenure, the Kentucky Court of Justice has made great strides in Family Court, judicial facilities, court technology, Drug Court, judicial education, pretrial services and diversity awareness. He considers passage of the Family Court constitutional amendment in 2002 to be one of his most significant accomplishments. In the last decade, Kentucky has earned a national reputation for Family Court, court facilities improvement, Drug Court and many other cutting-edge initiatives.
As a justice of the Supreme Court, Chief Justice Lambert authored more than 400 published opinions of the Court and scores of dissenting and concurring opinions. In addition, he has authored more than 500 memorandum opinions. Chief Justice Lambert has been a frequent lecturer at bar conferences and has authored articles for publication in scholarly journals and the Kentucky Bar Association's Bench and Bar magazine. He has also participated in numerous national legal education events as an invited speaker or panelist. As chief justice, he has been an active member of the national Conference of Chief Justices and was elected to serve on its board of directors.

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Lambert