Choosing Baynes' Successor

Choosing Baynes' Successor

By David R. Corder

Associate Editor

It's a secret, this process to replace recently retired U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Thomas Baynes Jr. of Tampa. The 17-year judge retired quietly, sans press releases or other public notice, March 19 on his 65th birthday.

Nobody confirmed it publicly, but insiders say Tampa bankruptcy lawyer Cathy McEwen is the front-runner to replace Baynes. She's reticent to talk about it, however.

"The court has made no appointment," she says. "They haven't finished their process. It's premature to talk about it.

"I can confirm I applied for the job along with a whole lot of other people," she adds. "But there's nothing to discuss until the court issues a press release."

There's a good reason why no one is talking, Baynes says.

"When I was picked in '87, I was told the same thing," he says. "The reason is if something goes wrong they don't want to back out of it. They try to keep it quiet because (the candidate) has to go through FBI background checks and IRS audits.

"They told me, you could tell your wife and your (law) partner," he adds. "My wife and my partner asked me if I really wanted this job, which resounded sometimes."

While he wouldn't comment about the selection, Baynes says, "The person they picked was outstanding."

McEwen, a former sports writer for The Tampa Tribune, has practiced bankruptcy law since graduating in 1982 from the Stetson University College of Law. While there, she studied under U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Alexander Paskay.

In November, the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Atlanta notified the federal bar associations in the Florida Middle District about a pending opening in the Tampa division of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court. The U.S. Constitution delegates the responsibility for selecting bankruptcy judges to circuit court appellate judges.

The Atlanta court sent all of the applications to the U.S. Judicial Conference - a 19-member governing board that includes the nine U.S. District chief judges and nine most senior circuit judges. They handled the preliminary screening process and referred eight or so candidates to the Atlanta court, which pared the list down to three.

In February, the appellate judges made their final decision, acknowledges Norman Zoller, the 11th Circuit's executive officer. He cited federal rules that prohibit him from disclosing the name of the person they picked. Nor could he say when the court might disclose the identity.

"The candidate is undergoing an FBI and IRS investigation," Zoller says. "I can tell you the FBI is not rushed."

Whoever replaces Baynes has big shoes to fill. Three years into his first 14-year appointment, Baynes presided over the massive Chapter 11 reorganization of Tampa's Celotex Corp. That reorganization paid out more than $80 million in attorney fees and handled around 400,000 creditor claims.

"I had it from 1990 to 2000," Baynes says. "It's still alive, too. Judge Paskay now has it."

A graduate of the University of Georgia, Baynes earned law degrees from Emory University School of Law and Yale Law School. At his appointment in 1987, he was a partner at Lake Wales' Peterson & Myers PA.

When he began 17 years ago, Baynes was only one of two bankruptcy judges in the Tampa division - an area that includes everything west of Orange County to the Gulf Coast. During Baynes' appointment, the Tampa division became the busiest of the five bankruptcy divisions in the Middle District of Florida, which now ranks as the third busiest bankruptcy district in the nation behind Los Angeles and Chicago.

"The major evolution for us, of course, was computers," he says. "In 1987, you were stuck with word processors, and we were just beginning to start with the PC. Now, as far as bankruptcy courts go, up until recently, we were the high-tech court in the country."

Although enjoying retirement, Baynes acknowledges he already misses the work.

"I live in Lake Wales, 65 miles from Tampa," he says. "I drove back and forth to work everyday. I enjoyed every single day for those 17 years."

More specifically, Baynes says, he will miss the courtroom the most.

"If you're a trial court judge or a trial court lawyer, you're theater is the courtroom," he says.