David
INDIANAPOLIS (Legal Newsline) - A central Indiana judge was sworn in Monday as Indiana's 106th Supreme Court Justice.
Steven H. David served as a circuit court judge in Boone County for 15 years before taking the oath of office in the Court's chambers at the Statehouse.
The hour-long ceremony included remarks from Gov. Mitch Daniels and Chief Justice Randall T. Shepard.
Daniels named David to succeed Justice Theodore R. Boehm, who retired last month.
According to the Court, David has built "a multi-faceted career" of private practice, corporate counsel experience, and "stellar" service as a military lawyer, in addition to his "superb" work as a trial judge.
He graduated magna cum laude from Murray State University and earned his law degree from Indiana University School of Law at Indianapolis.
David served in the United States Army Judge Advocate General's Corps and the Army Reserves, earning the rank of Colonel and holding top secret security clearance.
In private practice, he focused on personal injury, family law, civil litigation, and served as in-house counsel for Mayflower Transit, Inc.
Since becoming a judge in 1994, he has tried or presided over at least 60 jury trials in civil, criminal and military proceedings.
He also has testified before the Indiana General Assembly and the United States Congress on juvenile law and national security issues.
According to the Indiana Constitution and state statute, the Judicial Nominating Commission recruits and interviews applicants to fill appellate court judicial vacancies and the governor makes the final selection. The seven-member Commission is chaired by Shepard. It also includes three elected attorney members and three non-attorney members appointed by the governor.
In June, 34 applications were submitted to the Commission. It selected nine semi-finalists, held another series of interviews and voted to determine the three names that were sent to Daniels.
David's arrival on the five-member Court gives it three justices appointed by Republican governors.
From Legal Newsline: Reach Jessica Karmasek by e-mail at jessica@legalnewsline.com.