Judge Rebecca Crotty- The New Corrupt Shawnee County Court Judge

District judge has bench time

Just-appointed Crotty served as magistrate and BOTA judge

Posted: August 22, 2010 - 4:00pm

http://cjonline.com/news/local/2010-08-22/district_judge_has_bench_time

ANTHONY S. BUSH/THE CAPITAL-JOURNAL

Rebecca W. Crotty comes to her new duties as a Shawnee County District Court judge with 11 years experience as a judge on the Kansas State Court of Tax Appeals and as a Finney County magistrate judge.

Rebecca W. Crotty's decision to become a lawyer was subtle, not a lightning bolt nor a sudden revelation that led her to walk through the doors of the Washburn University School of Law.

"I didn't have any grand plan," Crotty said.

However, Crotty soon will put on black robes to be sworn in as a judge for the third time in 11 years. This time she will be a Shawnee County District Court judge.

In choosing her as district judge, Gov. Mark Parkinson noted her experience as a judge on the Kansas Court of Tax Appeals and a magistrate judge in Finney County.

"She has a proven track record of bringing accessibility and efficiency to the bench," Parkinson said.

Just before she applied for law school, Crotty had an undergraduate degree in secondary education, had taught at Capital City High and was working on a master's degree in special education. She was mulling whether to earn a master's degree in history so she could teach at the college level, to go after a master's of business administration, and she had taken the Law School Admission Test, a requirement for anyone wanting to go to law school.

Her husband, Doug Crotty, was in law school and introduced her to the assistant dean, who asked her what her undergraduate grades were and what her LSAT scores were. She told him.

"He said, 'OK,' " Crotty recalled.

"So I went to law school," Crotty said.

Law school was "a wonderful, wonderful, wonderful education," she said.

"It gave me a skill," she said. "I've always loved that it taught you to analyze issues, to never take anything at face value, and how to dig in, investigate and know how to find the answers to your question."

Following law school and after a stint at the Kansas Supreme Court as a research attorney, Crotty returned to her home town of Garden City as vice president and bank counsel at the Garden National Bank, later the Bank of America.

"I loved working in the bank," she said, performing a wide range of legal work during her 12 years there. "It was a real vibrant community bank."

In 1993, she joined Crotty Law Office P.A., her husband's law firm in Garden City, which handled cases tied to real estate, oil and gas, employment law, and juvenile, criminal and child-in-need-of-care cases. Six years later she applied for a newly-created post of magistrate judge in Finney County District Court and was appointed to it.

"It (had) a fast-paced, fast-moving case load," Crotty said. "It was a wonderful experience. I was in court all day, every day."

Crotty found it particularly satisfying to work to help juvenile offenders turn around their lives and to focus attention on helping children in child-in-need-of-care cases. She obtained a computer, designed legal forms and found ways to get through a large number of cases quickly.

Gaining appointment to the court of tax appeals, a three-judge panel in Topeka, was an opportunity to be considered at some point for a district judge position, Crotty said. She wanted to take a narrow area of law and merge it with good business practices to make it work well. Her background in business and banking helped because she knew how to work with people and organizations, utilize resources and how to use a balance sheet, she said.

"We were able to take a stodgy old administrative agency that wasn't really operating efficiently and make it work well," Crotty said. During four of her six years at the tax court, Crotty was the chief judge.

Using a grant of $325,000, the tax court obtained an improved computer system, allowing the court to trim the time a case got through the system by half, Crotty said.

Then a slot opened in Shawnee County District Court when District Judge Jan Leuenberger, a 15-year veteran, retired effective Aug. 2, and she applied. Crotty said she was "incredibly humbled and thankful" when the judicial nominating commission selected her as one of three nominees, then Parkinson selected her on Thursday.

Crotty admires judges who are good listeners, care about people, try imaginative ways to resolve cases, try cases quickly, predictably, efficiently and render decisions as soon as possible. Crotty initially will handle the high-volume administrative duties of the duty judge, which include hearing first appearances of criminal defendants and handling protection from abuse matters.

"There aren't any cases that aren't interesting or not important," Crotty said. She looks forward to the fast pace in Shawnee County, which is known for its high volume caseload.

"I hope I can keep my docket up, be an asset to them and move the cases along in an efficient way," Crotty said.

Crotty will finish her service at the court of tax appeals in about 30 days after the governor announced her appointment. The specific date for her to be sworn in hasn't been scheduled.