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THE DAILY RECORD

Thursday , January 6 , 201 1 • www.OmahaDailyRecord.com

Bailiff Kerri Wehrer helps Judge Thomas McQuade celebrate

his retirement.

McQuade Steps Down After Two Dozen

Years on Douglas County Court Bench
By Lorraine Boyd
& Julien R. Fielding
The Daily Record

Thomas McQuade is a very private person. The Douglas County Court judge retired
Friday after 24 years on the bench. But even with the magic of Google, it’s hard to find
much on him. His responses to our questions also only revealed what he wanted to
reveal.

What does emerge is a man dedicated to the law, and a man not above having some
fun too (we know this firsthand). All one would have to do is look back over the many
years that he umpired for the Barristers v. County Attorneys annual softball game, the
only place where his judgment was called into question!
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McQuade was appointed to the Douglas County Court bench in February 1987 by
then-Governor Bob Kerrey. “I have always appreciated [his] appointing me and I
realize it would never have been possible without the help of my friends Mike Fahey,
Mike Kelley, and Tom Monaghan,” he said.

McQuade served as presiding judge of the county court in 1990-91, 1998, 1999,
2001, 2004, 2005, and 2009.

He said of his 24 years on the bench, “I enjoyed mostly all of it. But there comes a
time when all good things must end. And for me that [was] on December 31, 2010.

“I will truly miss working with all of the county court employees because they are a
great bunch of people. They are paid very little for the work they do and they very
rarely complain. They have always been nothing but nice to me and they deserve to be
treated better.

“With regard to my fellow judges, I know they will now be asked to work just that
much harder because I don’t believe that I, and other retiring judges, will be replaced
anytime soon.

“Unfortunately, the sluggish economy and the huge budget shortfall that the state is
facing are making these decisions most difficult. No one is really to blame, but the
delays in replacing judges and personnel will create problems for the courts.”

As a frequent presiding judge, he is in a position to assess the situation. In that role,

he had primary responsibility for overseeing the delivery of county court services
within his judicial district, and for overseeing personnel matters and providing
direction in matters of local policy.

The court’s current Presiding Judge Susan Bazis agrees that the economic challenges
will impact his replacement. Compounding the issue is the planned retirement of
another judge, Stephen Swartz, in February, she said. She does anticipate that they will
be replaced in about six months though. In the meantime, their court will be affected
and if the wait is longer, it could present “huge problems,” she said.

“Judge McQuade will be missed. He contributed a lot to this bench, and as the
presiding judge before me, he was a big help to me.

“He’s done a lot for the county court to make it more efficient. His contributions in
that regard cannot adequately be recognized,” Bazis said.

His bailiff, Kerri Wehrer, said that it had been “nice working with him” and that she
was “very grateful for him for giving her opportunities.” Wehrer, who has been
working with McQuade for more than three years, said, “I’m going to miss him.”
Apparently dozens of other colleagues felt the same way as they packed his retirement
party on December 28.

McQuade’s plans for the future include “some time off in January.” We he returns to
Omaha, “I will resume my teaching at Creighton’s Law School, where I have been an
adjunct professor longer than I have been a judge.”
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He also plans to go into private practice “with my old friend Anthony Troia, to see
how I like the other side of the bench. Something tells me I will probably realize very
soon that being a judge is better than the alternatives.”

Troia was an undergraduate classmate of McQuade’s at Creighton University and

caught up with him again after law school. “First as a deputy county attorney in Sarpy
County, then in practice with Warren Schrempp, then in the law department of
Northern Natural Gas, I watched him, then appointed to the bench, I watched him. He
is very intelligent, he knows the law and how to apply it,” Troia said.

“I approached him over a year ago to come work in our office when he stepped
down. Then a month ago, we discussed it again.

“He’s going to be teaching at Creighton, oil and gas and litigation, and here he’ll
probably concentrate on drunken driving law,” he said.

“He’ll be a good fit, because he knows the courthouse, the system, and, probably
most important, because he’s an experienced lawyer. We brought on Bill Gallup a year
ago, and now, with McQuade, we will be very well-rounded.”

McQuade is a graduate of Creighton School of Law and is a member of the

American Bar Association, Nebraska State Bar Association and the Omaha Bar
Association.

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