HIGH COURT DEPARTURE RAISES OLD ISSUES

Missouri Supreme Court Judge Edward D. "Chip" Robertson is leaving the court to which he was appointed in 1985. Bright, eloquent and personable, Judge Robertson has won deserved plaudits for openness, candor and accessibility. He leaves to join a private law firm, there to take his role in pursuing the latest financial bonanza for the trial lawyers: Missouri's litigation against the tobacco firms, now being farmed out to private counsel. Robertson, 46, was then-Gov. John Ashcroft's chief aide and one of the youngest lawyers ever named to the state's high court.

Any even-handed assessment of the Robertson years on Missouri's highest court will find much to applaud. At the time Robertson ascended that lofty perch, the Supreme Court was mired in personal feuds, backbiting and secrecy. Robertson and his fellow Ashcroft appointees did much to improve the administration of Missouri justice. These improvements included openings to the media and moves to enhance computerization of Missouri courts in the information age.

Moreover, Robertson has done well for himself and for the court personal appearances he has made across the state. More than a few Missourians have been surprised to see introduced as a Supreme Court judge a man of his youthful appearance. A lawyer with divinity training, he is a polished speaker as gifted in delivering a stirring patriotic address as he is in writing a succinct and to-the-point opinion on an arcane legal issue.

Robertson-the-likable-individual isn't, however, the whole story. In recent years issues have arisen regarding the litigation explosion across Missouri that have been disregarded or swept aside by this court. We regard this as disappointing and bound, ultimately, to exact a cost in public confidence in Missouri's judiciary.

One of the major untold stories in Missouri government in recent years has been the cozy relationship between our state's highest court and the personal-injury lawyers of the trial bar. The court's lead employee is longtime clerk Thomas Simon. Simon is another amiable and likable public servant, in the job since 1970. Simon's wife, Linda, from whom he is currently separated, has long been the executive director of the Missouri Association of Trial Attorneys. These are the personal-injury lawyers who make their livings encouraging the filing of more and more lawsuits, and who take care assiduously to fight for their interests inside all branches of Missouri government.

All involved decry any conflict of interest. They're shocked -- shocked! -- if anyone even mentions it. But just exactly how would it look if the tables were turned? How would the personal-injury trial bar crowd like it if, for example, the spouse (or soon-to-be-ex-spouse, still friendly) of the Supreme Court's clerk were the longtime lobbyist for the Barristers Defending the Masters of Industry? Do you suppose we would hear cries of corruption or illicit influence in the administration of justice? Just a question for the deep-thinkers, the divinity students and the trial bar's legal ethicists to ponder at their next seminar.

For decades, an appointment to Missouri's highest court was a signal achievement, the capstone to a long and distinguished legal career. Above all, it was a chance for a widely respected legal scholar to give something back to his native state. One thinks of Republican Jim Finch of Cape Girardeau, or Democrats J.P. Morgan or Bob Donnelly. Now a Supreme Court judge, named to what is effectively a lifetime appointment in one of the choicest honors any governor can ever confer, is leaving in early middle age to join a personal-injury law firm that stands to cash in big. Nothing illegal is implied here, and we wish our friend Judge Robertson well. Still, Missourians who have every right to expect the highest standards of impartiality from those who administer justice are watching the esteemed members of our high court. And wondering.