Julie Muth Goodman

I was first elected to the Fayette District Court Bench in 1980 and continue to serve in that position some eleven years later. As a sitting Judge I have come to truly know my community. In additional to all my Constitutional Courts and duties I also voluntarily preside over a Specialty Drug Court to help address the Opioid addiction that adversely effects our community.

I am also a native of Lexington and a product of our school system. I graduated from Christ the King Elementary, Tates Creek High School, Transylvania University and UK Law School.

Prior to taking the bench I was a trial lawyer for 28 years and practiced as a national litigator handling cases in 24 states, All of the cases were in Circuit Courts, and addressed complex issues such as product liability, construction defect, class actions and antitrust. I am licensed to practice law in both Kentucky and New York as I practiced in Manhattan for three years while my husband, Philip, worked at Sloan Kettering Cancer Center..

Prior to going into private practice I was an Assistant Attorney General and I tried cases throughout Kentucky. The cases were all felonies, either violent crimes or white collar crime. I was also an Assistant Fayette County Commonwealth Attorney to Commonwealth Attorney Ray Larson. I have experience in criminal defense and along with my co-counsels were the first attorneys in Lexington to successfully defend a client an abused woman using the Battered Spouse Syndrome as a defense.

I am actively involved in my community presently serving on the Transylvania Board of Trustees and previously served on the Shriners Corporate Council Board. F

inally I am the proud recipient of 2015 Role Model of the Year Award from the Salvation Army Boys and Girls Club of the Bluegrass.

My primary responsibilities are to enforce our laws and by doing so make sure our community is the safest and fairest possible.

Unfortunately I do not believe that the Court system or our community always effectively addresses racial bias. I have effectively worked with the Administrative Office of the Courts to mandate that the county attorney's diversion program which often denied people of color the opportunity to participate because the office inappropriately used Juvenile records which are adjudications and confidential to deny people of color access to the program and to also require that the program use a sliding scale so that all eligible people can afford to participate. By making these changes more people of color have been given the same access to the program as others.