Chief names panel to evaluate judges.

A 24-member committee to study ways of evaluating judges has been created by administrative order of Florida Supreme Court Chief Justice Fred Lewis.

Lewis issued the order September 15 and gave the panel until June 30, 2008, to complete its work.

The Committee on Judicial Evaluations is charged with studying ways of evaluating judicial officers both in their selection and retention. It also is ordered to "provide recommendations as to the creation of a proper system, process, and criteria for the evaluation of judges, both active and senior, subject to selection or retention in Florida, and the elements or structure of a system and process, if any."

The committee will be composed of one justice, eight judges, eight lawyers, and five lay members.

It will be chaired by First District Court of Appeal Judge Peter D. Webster, and West Palm Beach attorney Thomas E. Warner, a former state representative and solicitor general, is vice chair.

Other members are Justice Charles Wells, 15th Circuit Judge William J. Berger, Fourth Circuit Judge Karen E. Cole, 11th Circuit Chief Judge Joseph P. Farina, Third DCA Judge Melvia Green, 20th Circuit Chief Judge Hugh D. Hayes, Miami-Dade County Judge...