{"id":569,"date":"2014-05-06T12:18:05","date_gmt":"2014-05-06T17:18:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/com.bradley.edu\/newslab\/?p=569"},"modified":"2014-05-13T11:38:19","modified_gmt":"2014-05-13T16:38:19","slug":"judge-stuart-borden-living-out-his-passion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/com.bradley.edu\/newslab\/2014\/05\/06\/judge-stuart-borden-living-out-his-passion\/","title":{"rendered":"Judge Stuart Borden Living Out His Passion"},"content":{"rendered":"

Serving justice is never an easy job, but it was always a calling for retired 10th Circut Court Judge Stuart Borden. His path in law stretches all across Illinois.<\/a> Judge Borden took his initial passion for righting wrongs and exposing bullies and created a legacy throughout his career.<\/p>\n

\"judge<\/a><\/p>\n

retrieved from Southern Illinois University Carbondale<\/p>\n

RETIRED JUDGE TELLS HIS STORY<\/strong><\/p>\n

From the Hilltop to the 10th Judicial Circuit Court, Judge Stuart Borden has come a long way from his dreams of journalism.<\/p>\n

Growing up in Wyoming, not too far out of the city of Peoria, retired 10th circuit judge and former states attorney Stuart Borden always had a passion for justice. In his hometown Borden\u2019s grandfather, father, uncle and brother were practicing attorneys at their own firm.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was sort of pre-ordained that I would become a lawyer,\u201d Borden said. \u201cSo naturally, I fought against that. I had no intention of going to law school. I was going to be a journalist or a teacher.”<\/p>\n

Initially Borden attended Bradley University as an undergraduate in English.<\/p>\n

“Then I began working while getting my master’s and decided I\u2019d take the LSAT\u2019s. I did real well, and I thought maybe I\u2019ll go.\u201d<\/p>\n

From there Borden decided to travel south and landed on his decision to enter law school at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. Borden laughed as he thought back on his many applications he sent out, but insisted that SIU was the most economical choice.<\/p>\n

Following his law degree, Borden returned to Central Illinois.<\/p>\n

\u201cI went up to Springfield for two years as a law clerk for an appellate court judge and then I moved back to Wyoming,\u201d Borden said. \u201cMy dad was ready to retire from the practice, so I went in with him and practiced there until I was appointed judge on March 11, 1991.\u201d<\/p>\n

Borden had also always desired to be the states attorney, and at that time in the smaller Illinois counties, it was possible to be a judge while also holding the position as states attorney. Shortly thereafter Borden was elected in Stark County.<\/p>\n

Borden never wanted to leave Central Illinois. When he first began his judgeship, he was required to go to Chicago and help preside over traffic court because they were short handed. It was only for a week every year, but it was enough to convince Borden that he didn’t want to live in Cook County.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think Peoria is a better mix. There are complicated substantial cases, both criminal and civil,\u201d Borden said. \u201cThe bar is very collegial, and you know almost all the members and everyone on staff in the court house. I like that feeling of collegiality and that you\u2019re all in it together type thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

During his judgeship, Borden worked many criminal cases. He was initially surprised in his beginning years at the circuit court that some people come into the courts and are not afraid to go to jail. Borden went on to work in abuse courts, which he believed was the hardest part of the job.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very difficult to see the deterioration of society in the small communities and watch alcohol and mental illness break down the traditional family,\u201d Borden said. \u201cIt\u2019s very disheartening.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Borden loved his job. He encourages all students who have interest in justice and the law to continue on to law school. Borden suggested students take a break between their undergraduate and law school enrollment and he’s fully confident that the job market is going to rebound for attorneys.<\/p>\n

He is also in full support of Bradley University extending its graduate school to include a law school. As a Bradley graduate, Borden thinks a law school would be great for the university. Borden said that students need to go into law school with an open mind.<\/p>\n

\u201cFind a field that you really like, rather than just go to law school thinking, \u2018I\u2019m going to make a lot of money.\u2019 You have to have a passion for the law and justice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Serving on the bench until 2001, Borden retired at 61 years old. Although it was at times difficult to be a judge, he missed his job once he stepped back into the private sector to do mediation at his firm.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had buyer\u2019s remorse for the first two or three months,\u201d Borden said. \u201cI really missed it. I still miss it. For awhile I thought maybe I made a mistake, but I\u2019m past that now, and I\u2019m really enjoying retirement.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Serving justice is never an easy job, but it was always a calling for retired 10th Circut Court Judge Stuart Borden. His path in law stretches all across Illinois. Judge Borden took his initial passion for righting wrongs and exposing bullies and created a legacy throughout his career. retrieved from Southern Illinois University Carbondale RETIRED JUDGE TELLS HIS STORY From the Hilltop to the 10th Judicial Circuit Court, Judge Stuart Borden has come a long way from his dreams of journalism. Growing up in Wyoming, not too far out of the city of Peoria, retired 10th circuit judge and former states attorney Stuart Borden always had a passion for justice. In his hometown Borden\u2019s grandfather, father, uncle and brother were practicing attorneys at their own firm. \u201cIt was sort of pre-ordained that I would become a lawyer,\u201d Borden said. \u201cSo naturally, I fought against that. I had no intention of going to law school. I was going to be a journalist or a teacher.” Initially Borden attended Bradley University as an undergraduate in English. “Then I began working while getting my master’s and decided I\u2019d take the LSAT\u2019s. I did real well, and I thought maybe I\u2019ll go.\u201d From there […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[157,37,43,158],"class_list":["post-569","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","tag-illinois10thjudicialcircuit","tag-com-425","tag-peoria","tag-siu"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/com.bradley.edu\/newslab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/569","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/com.bradley.edu\/newslab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/com.bradley.edu\/newslab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/com.bradley.edu\/newslab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/35"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/com.bradley.edu\/newslab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=569"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/com.bradley.edu\/newslab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/569\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":603,"href":"http:\/\/com.bradley.edu\/newslab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/569\/revisions\/603"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/com.bradley.edu\/newslab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=569"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/com.bradley.edu\/newslab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=569"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/com.bradley.edu\/newslab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=569"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}