Bishop Runs For Superior III
May 17, 2020 at 10:07 p.m.
Bishop Runs For Superior III
By Amanda [email protected]
Robert J. Bishop, 54, filed his candidacy for Superior Court III judge in January. He’s up against fellow Republicans Lindsey Grossnickle, Karin McGrath and Chad Miner to fill the bench being vacated by Judge Joe Sutton.
Sutton has presided over Superior III for more than 20 years. The court’s docket ranges from felony criminal cases to civil litigation.
Bishop currently works in the Kosciusko Prosecuting Attorney’s Office Child Support Division. He’s been doing that since 2006.
Bishop passed the bar in 1991 and privately practiced law in Allen County. He is married to his wife, Lois, with whom he has two children. His family attends Warsaw Community Church.
In his private practice, he dealt with family law along with public defender work with criminal cases and juvenile cases. Bishop is a certified family law mediator and vice president of the Kosciusko County Bar Association. He has also served as an attorney member of the Indiana Legislature’s Child Custody and Support Advisory Committee.
“I sought out the opportunity to be on the legislature’s child support advisory committee because I wanted to learn more,” he said. “Now I volunteer and teach continuing education classes because I want to learn more.”
Bishop’s office handles more than 3,000 child support cases, and he has 10 full-time staff that report to him everyday, he said. Many of the people involved in child support cases do not have attorneys, which is something Bishop believes he can use as judge in Superior III where many civil matters come before the bench pro se.
“The job I have now is an awesome opportunity to be ready, so even though I’m kind of restricted in child support, I write policy for our division, I change process for our division, that kind of stuff is what I do,” he said.
Part of Bishop’s work that’s been recognized in the child support office has been going “green” by making traditional paperwork forms available online. Doing so allows people to access the forms from their own computer instead of having to travel into the Justice Building.
“If you can do something from a distance, why not?,” he said. Implementing technology to help expedite cases on Superior III’s docket is something Bishop believes needs a closer look.
“My experience across all of northeast Indiana gives me a huge leg up from the other candidates,” Bishop said. “I’ve seen lots of people and really had an opportunity to decide how I want to be, and that really is a problem solver.”
Part of that problem solving includes Bishop’s idea to bring an OWI problem solving court to Superior III if he’s elected. Most felony criminal cases in Superior III are drinking and driving charges.
“Forty-three percent of the people we convict for DUI, we subsequently convict again for drinking and driving,” Bishop said. “Even when we put them on probation or in jail, that is not successful. We already have a drug court problem solving court, so I want an OWI problem solving court. A problem solving court isn’t just going to look at probation or jail, because that already failed 43% of the time. We’re going to look at what caused that person to get behind the wheel when they’re drunk.”
Bishop said doing this not only helps the offenders, but also saves the county time and money.
“I think whoever steps in is really going to have to look at the backlog of cases that court has and how that should be dealt with,” Bishop said. “Having a law license and saying you’re ready to be judge is like having a driver’s license and saying I’m ready to run the Indy 500. It’s about how prepared you are.”
Robert J. Bishop, 54, filed his candidacy for Superior Court III judge in January. He’s up against fellow Republicans Lindsey Grossnickle, Karin McGrath and Chad Miner to fill the bench being vacated by Judge Joe Sutton.
Sutton has presided over Superior III for more than 20 years. The court’s docket ranges from felony criminal cases to civil litigation.
Bishop currently works in the Kosciusko Prosecuting Attorney’s Office Child Support Division. He’s been doing that since 2006.
Bishop passed the bar in 1991 and privately practiced law in Allen County. He is married to his wife, Lois, with whom he has two children. His family attends Warsaw Community Church.
In his private practice, he dealt with family law along with public defender work with criminal cases and juvenile cases. Bishop is a certified family law mediator and vice president of the Kosciusko County Bar Association. He has also served as an attorney member of the Indiana Legislature’s Child Custody and Support Advisory Committee.
“I sought out the opportunity to be on the legislature’s child support advisory committee because I wanted to learn more,” he said. “Now I volunteer and teach continuing education classes because I want to learn more.”
Bishop’s office handles more than 3,000 child support cases, and he has 10 full-time staff that report to him everyday, he said. Many of the people involved in child support cases do not have attorneys, which is something Bishop believes he can use as judge in Superior III where many civil matters come before the bench pro se.
“The job I have now is an awesome opportunity to be ready, so even though I’m kind of restricted in child support, I write policy for our division, I change process for our division, that kind of stuff is what I do,” he said.
Part of Bishop’s work that’s been recognized in the child support office has been going “green” by making traditional paperwork forms available online. Doing so allows people to access the forms from their own computer instead of having to travel into the Justice Building.
“If you can do something from a distance, why not?,” he said. Implementing technology to help expedite cases on Superior III’s docket is something Bishop believes needs a closer look.
“My experience across all of northeast Indiana gives me a huge leg up from the other candidates,” Bishop said. “I’ve seen lots of people and really had an opportunity to decide how I want to be, and that really is a problem solver.”
Part of that problem solving includes Bishop’s idea to bring an OWI problem solving court to Superior III if he’s elected. Most felony criminal cases in Superior III are drinking and driving charges.
“Forty-three percent of the people we convict for DUI, we subsequently convict again for drinking and driving,” Bishop said. “Even when we put them on probation or in jail, that is not successful. We already have a drug court problem solving court, so I want an OWI problem solving court. A problem solving court isn’t just going to look at probation or jail, because that already failed 43% of the time. We’re going to look at what caused that person to get behind the wheel when they’re drunk.”
Bishop said doing this not only helps the offenders, but also saves the county time and money.
“I think whoever steps in is really going to have to look at the backlog of cases that court has and how that should be dealt with,” Bishop said. “Having a law license and saying you’re ready to be judge is like having a driver’s license and saying I’m ready to run the Indy 500. It’s about how prepared you are.”
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