天美传媒

What Lucy Ferguson VanMeter 鈥�97 wanted most during the 17 years she practiced civil litigation in 50 Kentucky counties was fair treatment.

鈥淎ll I ever wanted was to be before a judge who had read my pleadings, who was prepared for my hearing and who gave me a fair shake and applied the law,鈥� she said. 鈥淥f course I wanted to win, but if I had lost and all those things had happened, I was OK with that. I think that鈥檚 really what lawyers want. They want somebody who鈥檚 going to apply the law consistently and predictably. Because if your judge doesn鈥檛 apply the law consistently, there鈥檚 chaos.鈥�

And so, since she was sworn in as a judge in Kentucky鈥檚 Fayette Circuit Court in December 2018, 鈥渢hat鈥檚 what I try to do in my cases.鈥� She handles criminal and civil cases.

She said she loved the Lexington firm where she was an equity partner and 鈥渨ould have continued to work there until I retired,鈥� but she had always wanted to be a judge, and she promptly decided to run after hearing of a sitting judge鈥檚 plan to retire.

鈥淚 thought it would be a fun job, an interesting job, definitely a different perspective from the practice of law,鈥� she said. 鈥淒ifferent from being an advocate.鈥�

Some friends who had made the leap urged her to do the same. Not so much her husband, who happens to be a justice on the Kentucky Supreme Court.

鈥淗e would be supportive if I chose to do it, but he wasn鈥檛 pushing it,鈥� she said of Laurance VanMeter. They met when he was running for the high court in 2016, and she accompanied him on campaign swings through the 11-county district from which he was elected.

鈥淚t was during that process that I not only got to see what it took to run a campaign but also had to force myself to do the things that you have to do in a campaign 鈥� walk into a room where you don鈥檛 know anybody and try to meet everybody,鈥� she said. 鈥淎nd so, having gone through that experience, it gave me the confidence to think that I could do this. I could run a campaign, a successful campaign.鈥�

Laurance VanMeter, who had served 13 years on the Kentucky Court of Appeals, was sworn in in January 2017. They were married in August that year, and 鈥渨e really just had about two months of calm鈥� before the judge retired 鈥渁nd we just cranked up the machine once again.鈥�

These days, she said, 鈥渋t鈥檚 really great just to be able to do the job.鈥�

听