TENTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT SURVEY RESULTS - PART ONE

Every two years, the Lakeland Ledger surveys attorneys throughout the Tenth Judicial Circuit --- which consists of Polk, Highlands, and Hardee counties --- and asks them to rate county and circuit judges (anonymously, of course) in four catagories: legal ability, communication skills, written decisions, and professional conduct.

In today's edition, the results were published for the 22 circuit judges. County judges will be featured tomorrow.

For the fifth consecutive survey, Donald Jacobson was rated highest among the circuit judges, with an average score of 8.87. The lowest score overall went to J. Dale Durrance, who only earned 6.11. That was Durrance's lowest score in 13 years.

Above are the circuit judges and their overall scores. The Ledger website has detailed stories about each judge, along with how they scored in the individual catagories and comments received from attorneys participating in the bienneal survey. BTW: Of the 899 surveys sent to attorneys, only 246 --- about 27.4 percent --- bothered to participate.