Neutral

Hon. J. Miles Sweeney

Areas of Expertise:

Business Litigation, Civil Rights, Commercial, Construction, Consumer, Contracts, Employment, FELA, Insurance, Labor, Medical Malpractice / Medical Negligence, Personal Injury, Products Liability, Professional Liability / Malpractice, Real Property

Services:

Mediator, Arbitrator

Professional Experience:

Judge J. Miles Sweeney was born in Pittsburg, Kansas and attended the University of Kansas Undergraduate ’67 and Law ’72 where he was an editor of the Law Review. In between, he was a First Lieutenant in the U. S. Army serving one year in Vietnam.

He practiced law from 1972 until 1984, mostly with partner Ken Johnson in the firm of Johnson and Sweeney. In 1984, he was appointed Associate Circuit Judge by Governor Kit Bond. He was subsequently elected without opposition. In 1990, he was appointed Circuit Judge by Governor Ashcroft and has since been elected, again without opposition. He has served 9 years as Presiding Judge of Greene County and was on the Presiding Judges Executive Committee.

Judge Sweeney has tried over 300 jury trials including 2 on National Court TV. Of those, He has been reversed 3 times for a reversal rate of about one-percent. He implemented local improvements in the jury system and helped draft and testified in favor of statewide legislation on jury reform.

Judge Sweeney has served the Judiciary of the State in a variety of committee positions. He was Vice-Chairman of the Circuit Court Budget Committee. He was a member of the Trial Judge Education Committee, the Chief Justice’ Advisory Committee, and the Judicial Education Coordinating Committee. He is past chairman of the Greene County Computerization Committee and the Implementation Committee for the Jail population reduction project in Greene County. He is a past president of the Missouri Trial Judges Association. He currently serves on two other Supreme Court Committees.

Near the time of his retirement from the bench, Judge Sweeney received the Spurgeon Smithson Award from the Missouri Bar Association, the Judicial Excellence award from the Sprinfield Metropolitan Bar Association, and the Wall of Fame distinguished alumni award from the University of Kansas Army ROTC.

For 11 years, he was an adjunct professor at SMSU, teaching Business Law and Labor Law. He served as a labor arbitrator before taking the State Bench. He is a graduate of the civil mediation course at the University of Missouri Law School and the advanced mediation course at Missouri State University. He is an approved neutral on the list for the U. S. District Court.

Since retirement, he has conducted over three hundred mediations and arbitrations as well as trial consultation and expert witness assignments. He has served on four cases as a special judge to the Missouri Supreme Court and one for the Southern District Court of Appeals. He served as Special Master for the Missouri Supreme Court in the Public Defender case.

Professional Affiliations:

The Missouri Bar
Springfield Metropolitan Bar Association
Missouri Supreme Court Committees

Education:

University of Kansas, 1967, J.D. 1972

Admissions:

Missouri (1972)
US District Court (1972)

Honors: