ABOUT JUDGE CHAUVIN

Judge Chauvin was first appointed to the Circuit Court in 2004.  Prior to his appointment he spent fifteen years as a prosecutor in state and federal court.  While on the bench he created the S.M.A.R.T. Probation program, the Jefferson County Upgrade Project, the KYC-11 docket initiative, and the Division 8 Little Library.  He has been recognized with the Distinguished Service Award by the Louisville Bar Association, the Dean's Service Award from the Louis D. Brandeis School of Law at the University of Louisville, and as Member of the Year by the Jefferson County Women Lawyers Association.  Judge Chauvin retired from the Jefferson County bench in 2022, but continues to serve throughout the state as part of the Retired Judges Program, provide mediation services in criminal cases, lecture, and is an Adjunct Professor of Law at Brandeis where he teaches Trial Practice and Advanced Trial Practice courses.  He is the author of the Trial Practice Makes Perfict * workbook  and View From The Bench: How Way Down There Looks From Way Up Here.   See his complete bio here.

* "Perfect" is misspelled on purpose.  It's meant to be ironic.  Get it?

ABOUT THIS SITE

Through the magic of the wide wide world inter-web net super-information technology highway, you have landed on the website for Judge McKay Chauvin (Ret.).  Maybe it was on purpose or maybe you were googling “circus camp” and just typo’d your way here.  Either way, I hope you will find this site both useful and engaging.  
                                                                                                                                                   Best,
                                                                                                                                                   ACMC
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                            view from the bench

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​Over the course of my time as a trial lawyer and a judge I have spent a great deal of time thinking as well as doing.  I continue to think about the role lawyers and judges play in the justice system, how that system works, how well it works, and when and where and how and why it doesn't.  If you are interested in what I think, then you may be interested in the collection of essays I have written titled View From The Bench: How Way Down There Looks From Way Up Here.   

I couldn't possibly be as insightful or hilarious as I think I am but to give you some idea of what I think, I have posted a few of the essays under the View From the Bench tab.  

Use the Tell It To The Judge page to request information on how to purchase an  E-copy of  View From The Bench: How Way Down There Looks From Way Up Here.


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                          ​TRIAL PRACTICE MAKES PERFICT*
Use the Tell It To The Judge page to request information on how to purchase a copy of the Trial Practice Makes Perfict* workbook.
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*OK - misspelling "perfect" is funny because ... never mind.  The point
    is that while you can, and therefore should, get better at what you
   do by working hard(er) at it, practice never makes perfect and
​   anyone who suggests otherwise is a pompous windbag. 

​If you are interested in either becoming or becoming a better trial lawyer, I highly recommend that you get a copy of the Trial Practice Makes Perfict* workbook.   I highly recommend it because I wrote it, but I wrote it because I want trial lawyers to be great at what they do.   Their clients deserve it, and the justice system requires it in order to be and to be seen as just.  Did I mention that I wrote it?

​All trial lawyers are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable abilities- but they are by no means all created equal.  The Trial Practice Makes Perfict* workbook is written to encourage trial lawyers of all skill levels to take the intelligence and talent that nature gave them and nurture it to the fullest.  Informed by the realization that: (1) strict adherence to old trial dog dogma (e.g. always  ask leading questions on cross-examination) will only take a trial lawyer so far, and (2) (s)he will never really know how to do something unless or until (s)he understands why  (s)he's doing it, this meta-inspired  methodology (re)examines the fundamental principles (a/k/a the "A, E, I, O, U , and always be Y **) of trial practice and provides practical insight and guidance for preparing each phase of a trial as part of an overall trial strategy.  The Trial Practice Makes Perfict* workbook will help lawyers be more focused, creative, and effective from the first word of voir dire to the last word of closing argument. 

  * If you don't get the joke ... don't get the book.
** Advocate, Educate, Indoctrinate, Organize, Uncover the truth, and
       always be Yourself.