Bastrop council appoints Caroline McClimon to associate judge vacancy

The Bastrop City Council appointed Caroline McClimon as the city’s associate municipal court judge on Tuesday and approved a contract establishing her duties and compensation.

McClimon, a Smithville resident, was appointed to the position after associate judge Blas Coy Jr. was elevated to the top judge position last month. Coy succeeded Charlotte Hinds as municipal court judge after she retired in January after 10 years on the job.

"I was privileged to be selected and I appreciate the mayor and city manager advocating for me to obtain that role," McClimon said.

She was one of two applicants for the part-time contract position. Municipal judges and associate municipal judges serve two-year terms and preside over Class C misdemeanors, criminal jury and non-jury trials, pre-trial conferences, juvenile warnings and other cases tried in the city’s court. McClimon will join the bench with Coy and Associate Judge Charles Carver.

McClimon previously practiced law with her husband, Dareld Morris III, in Smithville. Their firm, Morris and McClimon Attorneys at Law, handles family law, business and commercial law, tax law, real estate law and personal injury cases.

Earlier this month, however, McClimon left her Smithville firm to join the Austin-based Evans Law Group, which focuses on divorce and family law, according to the law firm’s website. With her hiring, the Evans Law Group will maintain a satellite office in Downtown Bastrop where she will handle cases out of Bastrop, Fayette and Caldwell counties.

Morris will continue operating his Smithville law firm, handling business, tax, probate and personal injury cases. The firm will drop the McClimon name from the law practice after a buyout agreement between the two partners, McClimon said.

"I've always been eager to help with public service and that is why I applied for the position," McClimon said. "I was wanting to become more involved with the city of Bastrop and this was the perfect opportunity to work with Judge Coy and Judge Carver in providing this public service."

McClimon earned her bachelor's degree in political science from Southern Methodist University in 2005, and earned a law degree from the University of Oklahoma College of Law. She was admitted to the State Bar of Texas in 2009, and served as the Bastrop County Bar Association's president between 2016 and 2018. She has also worked for U.S. Senator John Cornyn, has served as the treasurer and director of the Smithville Chamber of Commerce and has worked for a Dallas law firm. She began practicing law in Bastrop County in 2011.

Last year, McClimon was one of seven people who applied to become Smithville’s municipal court judge after the death of Ron Jones in September 2018. The Smithville City Council on Dec. 10 appointed Raymah Davis to the bench. Davis also serves as Bastrop County’s justice of the peace for Precinct 2.