23 April 2004

ST. LOUIS – The Twenty-First Judicial Circuit Commission has announced a panel of nominees for the position of circuit judge in St. Louis County. The vacancy was created by the retirement of Judge Philip Sweeney from the circuit bench.

Those nominated by the commission are:  Robert S. Adler, Richard C. Bresnahan and Gloria Clark Reno.

Adler received his bachelor degree in business from the University of Missouri-Columbia in 1972, and his juris doctorate degree from the University of Missouri-Kansas City in 1974. He served as an assistant prosecuting attorney for St. Louis County from 1975 to 1978. The late County Executive Buzz Westfall appointed him as a St. Louis County municipal judge in 1992, and he still serves in that capacity. He is a member of the executive committee of the St. Louis County Domestic and Family Violence Council. He is currently in private practice.  

Bresnahan received a bachelor degree in business administration from the University of Missouri at St. Louis in 1967 and a juris doctorate degree from the University of Missouri School of Law in 1973. He has served as the municipal judge for the city of Town and Country from 1986 to the present. He was elected to The Missouri Bar Board of Governors in 1999 and continues to serve in that capacity. He also was elected to the 21st Circuit Judicial Commission in November 1997 through December 31, 2003. He serves as the city attorney for the cities of Ferguson, Edmundson and Lakeshire and is the prosecuting attorney in the city of Des Peres.

Reno received a bachelor degree in English from the University of Missouri-St. Louis in 1973 and a juris doctorate degree from St. Louis University School of Law in 1986. She was a senior trial attorney for The Hale Law Firm from 1997 to 2002. She served as a municipal judge for the city of Northwoods from 1994 to 2002. She currently serves an associate circuit judge for St. Louis County.

These candidates were selected from a pool of qualified candidates, which made the choices difficult. But the commission believes that all three of these candidates possess the combination of trial experience, intellect, kindness, patience, fairness and resolve necessary to serve the people of St. Louis County as their next circuit judge. The commission is confident that whoever is selected by the governor to serve will do so honorably.

The members of the Twenty-First Judicial Circuit Commission are: Chief Judge Sherri B. Sullivan of the Missouri Court of Appeals, Eastern District, Daryl L. Cothran, Thomas M. Lang, Matt McCormick and Gerald Noce.

Note: Links to nominees' applications typically are disabled after the governor makes his appointment.

Contact: Laura Roy

(314) 539-4300