by Mike Sharkey
Staff Writer
Chief Judge Donald Moran is getting four new judges for the Fourth Judicial Circuit, and they couldn’t be arriving at a better time.
Two attorneys from the private sector, John Merrett and Dan Wilensky, and two from the State Attorney’s Office, Dawn Hudson and Libby Senterfitt, won their respective elections this fall. The new judges start work Jan. 2. One of Moran’s first tasks was to assign the four to their divisions.
“Dawn Hudson will go into the County Court rotation and pick up a new division,” he explained. “In Circuit Court, Dan Wilensky has been assigned to Clay County, where there’s a real need for an additional family law judge due to the tremendous population growth out there.
“We have created a new criminal court division for John Merrett. There are a tremendous number of people being arrested these days. And Libby Senterfitt will work in family law.”
Moran said all four assignments were based partially on each attorney’s past work. He said Wilensky will do well in the family law division. Merrett is a former prosecutor who has worked on criminal cases. Senterfitt has spent the past two months sitting in on various family law cases, shadowing judges and learning the process. Hudson also started shadowing sitting judges recently.
“I think all of them will make a good transition. They are all smart,” said Moran. “The best part is they all have a good work ethic, and I think you saw that in their campaigns.”
Wilensky won his election during the September primary and has had several months to pare back his private caseload and prepare for his seat on the bench. He said he’s ready to go to work in a couple of weeks.
“I have about 28 years worth of files I have been going through,” he said. “I think it’s a wonderful opportunity and I am looking forward to working in Clay County. It’s exciting, and the people in the courthouse there are wonderful. There’s a real need for a family law judge.”
Wilensky said his three-decade career has prepared him well for the transition from private attorney to Circuit Court judge.
“Over 30 years, I have done literally everything there is to do in Florida law, but there is nothing as rewarding as family law,” he said, adding he hasn’t taken new cases since winning the election and has focused on wrapping up his mediations. “I had lots of mediations on the books and finished them in the past week-and-a-half.”
Wilensky said he has started cleaning out his office and intends to take his soon-to-be judicial assistant, Star Mariano, to the courthouse.
Moran said there’s a need for more and bigger courtrooms, a reaction to the increasing number of cases and the modern nature of trials. “In Circuit Court civil trials, there isn’t just one plaintiff and one defendant these days. Everybody has their own lawyer and you need more space.”
All of the new judges will help disperse the current caseload, which is growing and often far behind.
“Hopefully, we’ll have a more current criminal caseload and lighten it to a more traditional level,” said Moran. “The family law caseload is high, too. I’m not sure that’s because there are more divorces, we just have more people. That division deals with things like visitations, child support and health care costs. Two to three months sounds quick to us – but when someone is being shorted child support, 90 days sounds slow.”