(Seguin) — The Guadalupe County Commissioners Court has appointed a new County Court at Law Judge #2. After interviewing and deliberating its list of candidates behind closed doors, the court on Tuesday reconvened in open session to appoint Kirsten Legore to the unexpired term of current Judge Frank Follis who has chosen to retire.
Guadalupe County Judge Kyle Kutscher says the appointment was made after a very thorough review of candidates.
“We’ve gone through a process of getting applicants, interested individuals to submit their applications, questionnaires. We reviewed those and selected a handful of applicants and attorneys to interview. We’ve gone through the interviews so what we did, went back into executive session, had further conversations,” said Kutscher. “I think we had a situation where we had nine interested candidates and interviewed five — people that have all been involved and active in our community, experienced and all of them could have done the job. I really do appreciate their commitment to the community and their willingness to serve. It’s a difficult position for the court to be in. This doesn’t happen very often. One that we took extremely serious and again, just want to say thank you to the applicants that did take the time to show their interest,” said Kutscher.
Kutscher says ultimately, it was Legore’s diversity in experience that led to her selection.
“It includes being right over 20 years of legal experience being an attorney. She was an administrative law judge with the Texas Youth Commission specializing in juvenile cases. She had been a prosecutor with the county attorney’s office as an assistant county attorney, adjunct professor, community member that has been very involved and also, she’s been working for the Seguin ISD, school district dealing with a lot of different issues from potential lawsuits with the district but also individual issues with family, protective orders, truancy just a wide array of issues and situations. So overall, Mrs. Legore stood out to us as somebody that had a very diverse background, who had experience in understanding in many different areas. She also is the type of person that is very approachable and personable, that is able to work with just about anybody but at the same time, Mrs. Legore is strong enough to being able make those critical and difficult situations which is ultimately why I think the majority of the court selected Mrs. Legore,” said Kutscher.
Legore, who currently serves as the deputy chief operations officer for the Seguin ISD, says she is deeply honored by the confidence and support that the Guadalupe County Commissioners Court and Judge have placed in her and is grateful to serve the community in this new role. More importantly, she says she is humbled to be following the Honorable Frank Follis and knows she has big shoes to fill.
Legore says she believes her experience in the county attorney’s office combined with the ever so changing roles for her in the Seguin ISD have helped her move toward this next chapter in her life.
“All of that experience I think really gives me a perspective that is unique and in working with juveniles, really students, really getting to the why behind behavior because what is the goal? The goal is to change behavior and there is a punishment component of that. There are consequences. There are also the expectations that need to be communicated clearly and then, the goal is to actually have behavior change and the way to do that is programming, counseling and then getting behind some mental health issues sometimes. So, you really have to have a case by case determination and I really think I’ve got that broad knowledge that is going to bring a little different perspective with the goal of actually changing behavior which I’m excited about,” said Legore.
Legore says she looks forward to making a positive impact here in Guadalupe County, working to effectively process cases through court and making meaningful decisions for people’s lives.
Legore says she also can’t express how thankful she is for the support that she has been given throughout the length of her career. She says she has really been blessed in maintaining contact with so many great people, bringing her to the point where she is now.
“One of the things that I’ve been able to do through these different positions within the county, within the city of Seguin is maintain that really wonderful professional working relationship with law enforcement, juvenile services and working with all the other school districts within the county so I’m really thankful to have been given the opportunities that I have been given to gain the experience that I have working with truly wonderful, talented and caring people within the school district. I know that I’ll maintain those relationships because in no matter what position you are in, having those relationships really helps people and I’m going to continue to work with people. So, I just think this is an amazing next chapter in my life although like I said, it is bittersweet but I think the perspective I’ve gained working with families and students, school staff, law enforcement, juvenile and truancy court have been invaluable to me,” said Legore.
Legore will assume her position on the bench beginning March 1, 2021. The unexpired term runs through Dec. 22.