Honorable Joseph L. Goff, Jr

Q&A

Honorable Joseph L. Goff, Jr.

Tell me about yourself: I graduated from Farmington H.S. in 2004, and then I attended Southeast Missouri State University. After college, I went to law school at Saint Louis University. Upon graduation from law school, I took the Missouri Bar Exam and was licensed as an attorney in 2011. I was appointed to my current position as an associate circuit judge in St. Francois County by Governor Jay Nixon in April 2015. My wife and I live in Farmington with our two children.

How long have you lived in the

Parkland? My parents moved our family to Farmington in 1997 when I was in middle school. I left the area to attend college, law school and for my first job with the Missouri Attorney General’s Office in Jefferson City.

Why is the Parkland a good place

to live and work? The Parkland’s opportunities for growth in areas like education, business and tourism attract people from diverse backgrounds outside the area, and once they are here, we welcome them like old friends. As this process continues to play out, it forms a vibrant community with people from all over the country coming together to work, learn and play in one of Missouri’s most beautiful outdoor settings.

How did COVID affect the court

system? Historically, courts conducted most of their business in-person. That’s the whole point of a “docket call” – to call the cases before the Court and to give people and their attorneys an opportunity to be heard in the courtroom. The COVID-19 Pandemic and resulting shutdowns for public health and safety took away the ability to do most in-person business. The Supreme Court of Missouri did an excellent job of providing guidelines to allow courts to hear emergency matters even in the midst of the shutdown, and to allow courts to progress through re-opening phases as community conditions improved.

Our Presiding Judge, Wendy Wexler-Horn, continues to do a phenomenal job of leading and communicating with all of the judges and staff in the 24th Circuit to ensure that we are able to hear as many cases as possible in the safest conditions. There are only seven judges and one treatment court commissioner for the entire 24th Circuit (a population of close to 120,000 people). We don’t have a bullpen of relief judges we can call in to handle extra cases. There is a significant backlog, and I anticipate several more months

of long days and weeks to address all of the cases that were postponed during the shutdown, not to mention the new filings that come in every day. On top of the backlog, conducting individual trials has changed, especially jury trials. We need more help from court staff like bailiffs and circuit clerks as well as cooperation from attorneys and clients to ensure that we can hold trials in a safe but fair setting.

What is your favorite part of the

job? I truly love the different people, attorneys and court staff that I get to interact with on a daily basis. Some of the best people I know work in our legal system, and they come to work every day to uphold the rule of law for everyone who lives and works in the 24th Circuit. I know most people who appear in Court with me aren’t having the best day of their lives, so I do my best to listen to them, to explain the judicial process as much as I can and to resolve the disputes in a just manner consistent with the law. My favorite part of the job is when I can tell that someone who may be unhappy with the result of the case still understood that the process was fair, that their voice was heard, and that the result was consistent with the law.

What is your favorite way to

“I DO MY BEST TO LISTEN, TO EXPLAIN THE JUDICIAL PROCESS AS MUCH AS I CAN AND TO RESOLVE THE DISPUTES IN A JUST MANNER CONSISTENT WITH THE LAW.”

unwind after a long week on the

bench? I love to go for a run or a bike ride through town, on the backroads or in one of our beautiful parks. Being outside and moving around is incredibly invigorating. We are fortunate to have so many places in the Parkland that provide a beautiful, natural landscape for outdoor activities. I also love that I see so many other people in the area out walking, running, biking or hiking when I go out. My wife laughs as I wave to every person I see when I’m running, but I can’t help being glad to see others out enjoying the outdoors in our area.

You and your dad share the same name and are both attorneys, does

that get confusing? It gets very confusing, especially given how careful judges have to be about conflicts and the appearance that we are taking sides in a case. A lot of people think that my dad is the judge because he is older. I’ve even had a lawyer argue with me over email about which Joe Goff I was – I will freely admit that I don’t know everything, but I do know that I am not my dad. Judges are prohibited from discussing cases with individual parties, but my dad has had a few phone calls and drop-ins at his office where the person insists on talking to the judge in their case. Not only is he not the judge, but if he were, he wouldn’t be able to talk to them about their case outside of court! PL