Third Judicial District Court Attorney Associate Robert Lara is a candidate for district judge Division 2 in the June 7 Democratic primary, Lara said in an interview.
With five years of experience as a staff attorney, Lara said he has worked directly with Doña Ana County district judges on family and civil cases that comprise the court docket, has “experience with court operations” and is “familiar with the process.”
“I wrote that order,” Lara said. “I researched that order. I’ve talked to that plaintiff.”
Lara, who lives in Santa Teresa, said he has been an attorney since 2009, practicing in both family and civil law. He is a bar commissioner and a driving force in the reactivation of the Doña Ana County Bar Association.
“I’m choosing to run for judge because I want to continue public service,” Lara said. “We have a responsibility to help our neighbors and help the profession.” The district court bench, he said, is where his skills and passions are best suited to help people.
If elected judge, Lara said he will seek “sympathetic solutions that are supportive of the law,” for those who come before the court.
In divorce cases, Lara said a judge must consider not only both parties, but, if they are parents, must also consider the best interests of their children. Cases and rulings can include not only money and property, he said, but also issues of child support child custody, especially if one parent is relocating.
“Family law has its own unique challenges,” Lara said, including that about 80 percent of those who come before the court are self-represented, about half are in poverty and many do not speak English. Many cases, he said, involve grandparents seeking guardianship of their grandchildren.
Lara said his goal is to “streamline the system so you spend less time in my court and more time being a parent or grandparent.”
As a judge, Lara said he will approach each case with “sympathy and creativity,” recognizing that each is “unique based on the family.”
As a judge, Lara said he also will help those who come before the court to find the community resources they need.
Civil proceedings are often landlord-vs.-tenant cases, he said, or the result of injuries suffered in a traffic accident or business partners who have split. As with family court, he said, civil cases must be considered on an individual basis, and must be moved forward to settlement or trial in a timely manner so the parties are not “buried in paperwork until they give up,” he said.
“How can we make sure people in the county have real access to justice?” Lara said.
For his campaign, Lara is “pursuing public financing under the New Mexico Voter Action Act to ensure fair and ethical elections by taking big money out of judicial campaigns,” according to his campaign website, and must collect 200 $5 contributions to qualify.
Visit robertlara4judge.com.
