Home County: Cape Girardeau
Term of Service at the Supreme Court of Missouri: January 1965 – December 1978
Judge James A. Finch Jr. was born November 13, 1907, in St. Louis, Missouri.[i] He grew up in Fornfelt and New Madrid, Missouri, where his father James A. Finch practiced law, before enrolling at Southeast Missouri State College in Cape Girardeau.[ii] After completing his sophomore year, he transferred to the University of Missouri-Columbia, where he received his bachelor of arts in 1930 and his law degree in 1932.[iii]
During his time in law school, Finch was a member of the editorial board of the Missouri Law Review, the Order of the Coif, and the international legal honor society, Phi Delta Phi.[iv] In 1931, while still in law school, he was admitted to The Missouri Bar.[v] Upon his graduation, he served for several months as assistant attorney general of the state of Missouri, then moved to Cape Girardeau to form the law firm Finch and Finch with his father.[vi] He practiced law there for 33 years except from 1941 through 1942, when he acted as an assistant to the prosecuting attorney of Cape Girardeau County.[vii] He was elected to the Missouri Academy of Squires in 1963.[viii]
Then-Missouri Governor John M. Dalton appointed Finch to the Supreme Court of Missouri, where he assumed office January 8, 1965.[ix] He served as chief justice of the Court from 1971 until 1973.[x] At the 1966 general election, he was retained in office for a 12-year term and ending December 31, 1978.[xi] He retired after working at the Court for 14 years, then became the first president of the Supreme Court of Missouri Historical Society.[xii]
In addition to Judge Finch’s contributions to the legal field, he was committed to education. He served as the chairman of the advisory council to the Missouri Commission on Higher Education from 1963 to 1964 as well as the Governor’s Council on Higher Education from 1959 to 1963.[xiii] He also served on the Missouri Citizens Advisory Commission on Higher Education in 1957 and the Governor’s Commission on Education beyond the High School from 1958 to 1960.[xiv] In 1964, he received the Phi Delta Kappa award for outstanding contribution to education in Missouri.[xv]
Along with his dedication to education, he devoted to serving his alma mater, the University of Missouri. He was a member of its board of curators from 1951 until 1965 and served as president of the board from 1954 until 1964.[xvi] He was also a past member and president of the trustees of the University of Missouri Law School Foundation.[xvii] The university awarded him the Distinguished Service Award in 1965, the Annual Law Day Award of the Law School in Kansas City in 1968, and the Certificate of Merit from the University of Missouri, School of Law in 1970.[xviii] In 1966, the law school conferred upon him an honorary doctor of laws.[xix]
Finch was a member of various professional organizations throughout his legal career including The Missouri Bar, the Law Foundation, and Board of Directors of the National Center for State Courts, the American Law Institute, and the American Judicature Society.[xx] He was a member and fellow of the American Bar Association, as well as a fellow and past president of the Missouri Bar Foundation.[xxi] Additionally, he sat on the executive committee of the Appellate Judge Conference.[xxii] In 1976, he received the Award of Merit of the American Judges Association for “significant contribution to the improvement of the administration of justice.”[xxiii]
Judge Finch died April 1, 1988, at Memorial Community Hospital in Jefferson City, Missouri.[xxiv]
[i] “The Honorable James A. Finch Jr.,” Celebration of Worship, In Memorium, The First United Methodist Church (Jefferson City, MO: April 3, 1988), 2.
[ii] Supreme Court of Missouri, “A Memorial for the Honorable James A. Finch, Jr.,” (Jefferson City, MO: Supreme Court of Missouri, 1988), 1-2.
[iii] “The Honorable James A. Finch Jr.,” Celebration of Worship, In Memorium, The First United Methodist Church (Jefferson City, MO: April 3, 1988), 2.
[iv] Supreme Court of Missouri, “A Memorial for the Honorable James A. Finch, Jr.,” (Jefferson City, MO: Supreme Court of Missouri, 1988), 2. See also: “The International Legal Honor Society of Phi Delta Phi,” Phi Delta Phi Website, accessed on February 14, 2019, available from https://www.phideltaphi.org/. Paper copy of document filed at the Supreme Court of Missouri Law Library.
[v] Supreme Court of Missouri, “A Memorial for the Honorable James A. Finch, Jr.,” (Jefferson City, MO: Supreme Court of Missouri, 1988), 3.
[vi] Supreme Court of Missouri, “A Memorial for the Honorable James A. Finch, Jr.,” (Jefferson City, MO: Supreme Court of Missouri, 1988), 3.
[vii] Supreme Court of Missouri, “A Memorial for the Honorable James A. Finch, Jr.,” (Jefferson City, MO: Supreme Court of Missouri, 1988), 3.
[viii] James C. Kirkpatrick, Secretary of State, Kenneth M. Johnson, ed. Official Manual, State of Missouri, 1977-1978, (Jefferson City, MO: Von Hoffmann Press, Inc., 1978), 191.
[ix] “The Honorable James A. Finch Jr.,” Celebration of Worship, In Memorium, The First United Methodist Church (Jefferson City, MO: April 3, 1988), 2. See also: James C. Kirkpatrick, Secretary of State, Kenneth M. Johnson, ed. Official Manual, State of Missouri, 1977-1978, (Jefferson City, MO: Von Hoffmann Press, Inc., 1978, 191.
[x] “The Honorable James A. Finch Jr.,” Celebration of Worship, In Memorium, The First United Methodist Church (Jefferson City, MO: April 3, 1988), 2. See also: James C. Kirkpatrick, Secretary of State, Kenneth M. Johnson, ed. Official Manual, State of Missouri, 1977-1978, (Jefferson City, MO: Von Hoffmann Press, Inc., 1978, 191.
[xi]James C. Kirkpatrick, Secretary of State, Kenneth M. Johnson, ed., Official Manual, State of Missouri, 1977-1978, (Jefferson City, MO: Von Hoffmann Press, Inc., 1978), 191.
[xii] Missouri Supreme Court Historical Society, “Historical Society Holds First Annual Meeting,” The Missouri Supreme Court Historical Journal vol. 1, no. 2 (Fall 1986): 1.
[xiii] James C. Kirkpatrick, Secretary of State, Kenneth M. Johnson, ed., Official Manual, State of Missouri, 1977-1978, (Jefferson City, MO: Von Hoffmann Press, Inc., 1978), 191.
[xiv] James C. Kirkpatrick, Secretary of State, Kenneth M. Johnson, ed., Official Manual, State of Missouri, 1977-1978, (Jefferson City, MO: Von Hoffmann Press, Inc., 1978), 191.
[xv] James C. Kirkpatrick, Secretary of State, Kenneth M. Johnson, ed., Official Manual, State of Missouri, 1977-1978, (Jefferson City, MO: Von Hoffmann Press, Inc., 1978), 191.
[xvi] “The Honorable James A. Finch Jr.,” Celebration of Worship, In Memorium, The First United Methodist Church (Jefferson City, MO: April 3, 1988), 2.
[xvii] “The Honorable James A. Finch Jr.,” Celebration of Worship, In Memorium, The First United Methodist Church (Jefferson City, MO: April 3, 1988), 2.
[xviii] “The Honorable James A. Finch Jr.,” Celebration of Worship, In Memorium, The First United Methodist Church (Jefferson City, MO: April 3, 1988), 2.
[xix] Supreme Court of Missouri, “A Memorial for the Honorable James A. Finch, Jr.,” (Jefferson City, MO: Supreme Court of Missouri, 1988), 6.
[xx] Supreme Court of Missouri, “A Memorial for the Honorable James A. Finch, Jr.,” (Jefferson City, MO: Supreme Court of Missouri, 1988), 5. See also: “The Honorable James A. Finch Jr.,” Celebration of Worship, In Memorium, The First United Methodist Church (Jefferson City, MO: April 3, 1988), 2.
[xxi] James C. Kirkpatrick, Secretary of State, Thelma P. Goodwin, ed., Official Manual, State of Missouri, 1965-1966, (Jefferson City, MO: Von Hoffmann Press, Inc., 1966), 227.
[xxii] Supreme Court of Missouri, “A Memorial for the Honorable James A. Finch, Jr.,” (Jefferson City, MO: Supreme Court of Missouri, 1988), 5.
[xxiii] Supreme Court of Missouri, “A Memorial for the Honorable James A. Finch, Jr.,” (Jefferson City, MO: Supreme Court of Missouri, 1988), 5.
[xxiv] “The Honorable James A. Finch Jr.,” Celebration of Worship, In Memorium, The First United Methodist Church (Jefferson City, MO: April 3, 1988), 2.
Biographical information authored by Ms. Chloe Shoemaker, 2019, University of Missouri-Columbia, Missouri.