Two of the four district judges who handle Jefferson County’s civil case load will hang up their robes at the end of next year.
Judge Gary Sanderson, 60th District Court, and Judge Milton Shuffield, 136th District Court, have announced they will not seek re-election.
“I am announcing that I will not seek another term as judge … and will take senior status at the conclusion of my term,” Sanderson said in a prepared statement. “While this decision has no been easy, after having worked in the District Attorney’s Office for eight years and serving as district judge for 36 years, I feel this is the appropriate time.”
Sanderson took the bench in 1981. His son, area attorney Justin Sanderson, has plans to run for his father’s seat.
“I will miss the courthouse community, the fine Bar Association, and all the legal community,” Sanderson said. “I will especially miss the staff I have been blessed with throughout my tenure on the bench.”
Judge Shuffield was not immediately available for comment.
Appointed in 1995 and elected in 1996, Judge Shuffield will have served as a district judge for 20 years.
Before his appointment, he was a civil litigator at Mehaffy & Weber from 1981 through 1992 and at Bernsen, Jamail & Goodson from 1992 through 1995.