Web Exclusive: Meet the Judges: Warren Circuit Court Judge Hunter Reece

Warren Circuit Judge Hunter Reece

With a passion for community outreach, Warren Circuit Court Judge Hunter Reece said he enjoys being on the bench and finds it important to get more attorneys into rural communities. 

Reece earned his bachelor’s degrees in criminology and business from Indiana State University. He then worked for the Indiana State Police for about nine years. 

He was a state trooper. He worked the road for a few years and then went into investigations at the Lafayette post. 

Reece’s grandfather was an attorney in Terre Haute, and he always knew that was a path he wanted to follow eventually. 

“I was interested in working for the State Police. I pursued that career first and I started law school. My hope was to eventually be an attorney for the state police, which they have staff attorneys, and I decided that I wanted to be in the courtroom, and I wanted to litigate. So, at the end of that, I took a position working as a deputy prosecutor in private practice in that county and launching my legal career,” Reece said. 

He recalled in sixth grade he had the opportunity to go to the Vigo County courthouse and put on a mock trial. He played the role of attorney.

“I think that further outreach by the judiciary sparked my interest at a young age and to get to continue and follow up in my grandfather’s footsteps that there was a future for me,” Reece said. 

Reece was elected to the Warren Circuit Court in 2016 and took the bench in 2017. 

Reece is the latest Indiana trial judge to be featured in Indiana Lawyer’s Spotlight series profiling jurists in more rural counties. Here is what he had to say about life on and off the bench.

What was your first job outside of law school? 

So, the first job out of law school I worked with a rural law practice. It was a general practice firm. I served as a deputy prosecutor part-time and then private practice the rest of the time through the office so it gave me a nice opportunity to do both to continue kind of a transition of public service. Having been with the state police to now transition to the prosecutor’s office, but (it) also allowed me to start reaching out and doing private practice work in managing a small firm and it really started to help me appreciate the need to have access to justice in rural communities and the legal deserts that we see. There are only a few attorneys in that county practicing, and I was residing in Warren County practicing just north of Benton and Warren also has an older mature bar, not a lot of attorneys. And so, I saw the need to stay in that area and help rural citizens have access to attorneys.

What is something that surprised you about being a judge? 

I think like many of my colleagues I quickly appreciated how much work goes on behind the scenes by a judge—the administrative side, the work you have to put into drafting orders to staff you have to manage. There really is a lot more to working in the judiciary than just sitting out on a bench and hearing cases. It really made me appreciate how much more time you have to spend out of the courtroom. Operating the court itself and preparing orders to respond to things that have happened in court because so much of it isn’t over when you walk off the bench. You just got to go back and … you have to update state databases for judgments of conviction, suspended driver’s licenses, and just all of this whole kind of behind-the-scenes aspect that I really never give thought to. And I think a lot of times that’s probably a common misperception by people outside the judiciary as you think when the judge isn’t on the bench, they’re not doing the work but, the more you’re on the bench, the more work it generates outside of the courtroom that you have to have time to manage. …

So I spent all day (March 7) doing a career day and senior high school. I was there from eight in the morning till 2:30 In the afternoon, talking to kids from junior high to high school level about the practice of law and the judiciary. … I work with our local government teacher, Matt Commons. And it was a passion that he had also, bringing government education into the school. So those are things that a lot of times someone might see the judge not here in the courtroom all day might take off or out or vacation but a lot of times we’re getting calls from the community leaders and stakeholders to come be a part of discussions or outreach, and it really surprised me in the first year how much of that happens. 

Do you have a favorite memory since your time being a judge? 

We did a Constitutional Law Day right before the pandemic. And I reached out to one of the elementary schools about participating and I was shocked and surprised at the interest. … It’s just a really fun experience dealing with kids in the K through six arena about laws in the Constitution and trying to take kind of complex things and step down one. It made me really appreciate our teachers and the work that they put into developing a lesson plan and putting an adult conversation into words that kids will understand. It just really made me appreciate the kids— all the questions, all the energy that they have about the law and what courts do. And that was really fun. Several of the teachers sent me photographs of it and it was just really fun, and it made me appreciate a fun side of my job. But sometimes the courtroom can be disheartening 

What is something you’ve learned about yourself since becoming a judge?

I appreciate how I frequently have a lot of things going. I’ve got a little bit of ADHD in me that I think I’ve had since I was in high school, elementary school. And so, I’m easily distracted. And I struggle with that throughout the day because somebody comes in with a question or an idea. And I kind of take off on that and someone will come in with another task or a project and I can’t take off on that. By the end of the day. I look at my desk. I have like nine projects I’m sitting here trying to run. And so I really begin to appreciate that.  I really probably need to be able to focus a little bit better and I just get motivated easily by a lot of different ideas that people have. And it’s funny in the course of each day, I look at how many different things I’ve touched.

So, we recently did a time study that the courts are working on. And it was just interesting to sit down over the course of the day and look at all the different types of cases I handle and all the different things in front of me and so when you have somebody that’s got a little touch of ADHD, they can’t really emphasize that because (they) get easily distracted by all of these. But I think that’s one thing I’ve learned.

Second thing is I’ve learned how much I appreciate bringing the law to the community. And I never would have really thought of that. I didn’t do a lot of that in the past, but I really enjoy that, and I’ve learned that that’s a part of me—that going out and talking to community groups, talking to other stakeholders and our partners in public offices about what we do in the judiciary and the law. I really enjoyed that more than I thought that I would. Those are probably the two things I think I’ve learned the most about myself since I’ve been on the bench.

What are you doing when you’re not on the bench?

I enjoy family time. I’m really close with my family. I like spending a lot of time with my kids, with my extended family. And I enjoy traveling. And I enjoy the Indianapolis Colts season. I’m a ticket holder for the Indianapolis Colts for 17 years and I’ve got a banner down there at Lucas Oil Stadium, so I just really enjoy those things. So usually when I’m not here I’m doing one of those. …  I’m traveling with my family or into the football … during the season, the NFL season. Every home Colts game. Diehard.