Which disputes reach a trial?
Marty Seaton was associate editor in chief of the Journal of Dispute Resolution at the University of Missouri School of Law before graduating in 2006. He then clerked for Judge Justine E. Del Muro for two years. In 2008 he joined the civil litigation firm that later bore his name. As a researcher, I would begin his professional history with that journal as well as the docket. Trial reports record only the disputes that take that route.
The working division
Governor Michael Parson appointed Seaton to Division 10 on March 31, 2023. The circuit’s division page distinguishes inquiries about domestic and civil matters from criminal matters and publishes the court’s attendance policy. Such instructions are minor documents until someone needs to know whether a particular kind of hearing took place in a courtroom or through a screen.
The press preserves more than courtroom outcomes. A student law journal, a clerkship and a public division notice can each contribute evidence to a professional history.
I am a Mormon historian, litigant and publisher with a continuing interest in public affairs. A local press that covers a courthouse can ask political and religious-liberty questions as well as record the result of a trial.
Public records and sources