A Brief History of BAMSL’s Creation of the Non-Partisan Court Plan

In 1927 the St. Louis Bar Association had been firmly established for over 50 years, though, at that time, it was not yet the Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis (BAMSL) we know today. The Association did not yet have a permanent home, a staff, or a club. However, the fundamental goals of BAMSL had been in place since the inception of the Association. Amongst these fundamental values was a belief that the Association should act to maintain the honor and dignity of the profession of the law, promote legal science and the administration of justice, promote and maintain the efficiency and integrity of the judicial departments of the government.

BAMSL’s daily business in 1927 would have been foreign to even the most active of today s members. It prosecuted disciplinary cases, paid the Missouri Bar dues of its members, and devoted hundreds of hours of time to the debating, voting and endorsing of candidates for judicial office. BAMSL felt an obligation to intercede in judicial elections because the people for whom democracy and justice were to be protected had little or no idea about the reputation or ability of most lawyers seeking judicial office or even of the incumbent judges. The Association did not think the public was ignorant or stupid, but simply lacked information on most candidates. Moreover, the predominant sound-bite-style advertising available then did little to assist the people in discerning the qualifications or judicial philosophies of the candidates.

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