The Columbia Tribune ran an article about Kim Shaw and the Democratic Primary coming up on August 3rd. Here is a brief excerpt:
When she announced her candidacy, Shaw, 49, said she would bring “renewed energy and focus” to the bench.
“For 20 years, I’ve been on the other side of that bench,” Shaw said last week at a candidate forum.
A judge’s decisions affect more than just defendants and litigants, Shaw said. “It does affect other people,” she said, pointing to the effect of divorce on children and criminal sentencing consequences for victims’ and defendants’ families.
Shaw said her experience in private practice, as well as her current position as an attorney for the public defender’s office, has prepared her for the enormous caseload for Division 5. As one of the busiest associate circuit divisions in the state, Division 5 disposed of more than 6,000 cases in 2009.
“I put in the hours I need to put in,” said Shaw, who returned to the public defender’s office last July after nine years as a law partner in private practice. “Their caseload is huge. I think that helps me tremendously” for qualification to be a judge.
“I feel very strongly that whoever appears in that courtroom should be treated with dignity and respect — like I would want to be treated,” Shaw said. “No matter what my personal feelings are, you apply the law.”
Shaw has a passion for family law, having spent time as a guardian ad litem advocating for abused and neglected children in Boone County.
“If you don’t give 110 percent, something bad could happen,” she said. “You could lose a child.”
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