Journal of the House of Representatives
of the Second Session of the 110th General Assembly
of the State of South Carolina
being the Regular Session Beginning Tuesday, January 11, 1994

Page Finder Index
| Printed Page 5210, Apr. 28 | Printed Page 5230, Apr. 28 |
Printed Page 5220 . . . . . Thursday, April 28, 1994
Q. Just for consistency sake, have you handled a TPR?
A. Yes, I have, both private TPR where -- and TPR, termination of parental rights cases where DSS was a party. I have been actively involved in both.
Q. And paternity?
A. Paternity cases, child support cases. Yes, sir.
Q. And you said contested divorce? I mean -- in some of the areas where you have a little -- it's a little less clear cut, you've mentioned some of those like child custody, but what about equitable division of property, have you been involved with that at all or military or government retirement plans?
A. I've worked on cases recently involving equitable distribution. I haven't -- and I think one of my cases in the last five years related to military retirement. I have litigated that, that issue, on more than one occasion during my 15 years back in the days before the law was nearly as clear as it is now, in fact, when we were still in the process of trying to identify whether military retirement, for example, was subject to division, so, yes, I have handled those matters.
Q. Over the last five years, what percentage of your CLE's have been related to Family Court?
A. About 50 percent, I would say. I have divided my continuing legal education into the two areas in which I primarily practice, government law and municipal and finance on the one hand and family court law on the other.

Since 1989, I have -- in 1989 I think or 1990, I taught a CLE related to Family Court, related to representing the interest of the child in Family Court proceedings. I am scheduled to make a presentation at another CLE this summer at the Bar Association meeting on Family Law. And so I would say I go -- divide my CLE into two areas where I practice.
Q. It sounds like a lot of your representation has involved children, particularly child abuse and neglect cases. Do you envision any difficulty shifting from that type of work to a situation where you have to be an objective, neutral decision maker? For example, in a DSS case or something like -- of that nature, would you tend to err on the side of the child or do you think you could be fairly objective about that, particularly when it's not a real clear cut set of facts?
A. I don't have any doubt that I can be fair and objective. I think that I also might be guilty of erring on the side of the child depending on the circumstances. I mean that one of the reasons Family Court exists is to help and protect children, so I think that would be a very important role for a Family Court judge.

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But in terms of thinking that one always has to advocate the position of the child or that a child is always correct because the child has said something or alleged to have said something, I don't think I would fall into that at all.

I think that the purpose of Family Court is to provide an environment in which accurate information can be supplied to a decision maker and I would want to be that decision maker.
Q. We talked about your experience a little bit, but I'm not sure I got a feel for whether you've handled any juvenile cases?
A. I have probably not. Since 1989, I have not been -- I don't think I've been in Family Court on a -- representing a juvenile. And prior to that, yes, I have in DYS cases representing young people.
Q. Do you have any suggestions or recommendations that you would like to offer to the General Assembly about what to do about our rising tide of juvenile crime?
A. I've thought a lot about that question in general because of some of the public work I do and I see so many public resources handling or responding to the problems and juvenile violence, in particular, after the fact, after the violence has occurred, but we are paying for the loss of life, we are paying for the hospital bills, the families that are effectively destroyed and never put back together and I'm not sure there is a legislative solution to tell you the truth.

I think that there might be some things that could be done in terms of providing incentive so that there is earlier intervention. If we could be creative and design programs where people in the community, not just a single parent, but the community as a whole embraced the concept that we are all responsible for our young people, so that the resources we do have with schools, for example, with churches, with recreation departments and all of our political subdivisions, if more resources were available to encourage one on one contact, to encourage contact between a good role model as an adult and a child that may just need somebody to be positive and somebody to look up to.

I mean I think that might be something that the legislature could help with, but in terms of legislating people being better parents in terms of teenagers not having kids that they can't raise, I'm not sure what the legislature can do about that.
Q. Do you think you can address any of that as a Family Court judge?
A. Well, I think that's the venue in which the Family Court works and I think that decisions that would be made in the Family Court can have an impact on a case by case basis. And that's one of the reasons I want to be a Family Court judge, to try to take a situation that is presented, that

Printed Page 5222 . . . . . Thursday, April 28, 1994
the fact as they are developed in the Family Court, and make a decision that would be productive of a better life for either the adults or the children that are before me. And that's the ultimate challenge and that's what I would like to have a chance to do.
Q. Your PDQ, or Personal Data Questionnaire, excuse me, indicates that you've been a hearing officer in some administrative hearings for DHEC?
A. That's correct.
Q. That's obviously different than being a Family Court judge, but what about that experience, if any, would be of benefit to you as a Family Court judge?
A. Well, I think any time a person has an opportunity to listen, to evaluate information, to evaluate credibility if there are disputes over facts and ultimately to make a decision and to have that decision reduced to writing, I think that's good experience and would be productive and helpful to anybody wanting to be a judge. And I enjoyed that work and I am glad I was able to do it.
Q. You've been a member of the Columbia City Council, I think, now for about eight years?
A. That's correct.
Q. And maybe this is a foolish question in a sense, but do you find it difficult or do you think you'll find it difficult to give up political life?
A. That was a major decision that I had to think through in deciding to run for this office. And I think that I'm at a point in my life where I would like to try a different forum of public service. I think that a lot of the time I spent in the political realm, it's not so much political in terms of partisanship because our City Council here in Columbia is nonpartisan and we work as a team and it's a different environment than some other political environments.

I've analyzed my time and what I see myself doing is things with the community and what I would call public service or civic service and I would like to be able to try a different version of that, so the political aspect of it, the truly political aspect of it, yes, I'm ready to be able to be apolitical.
Q. Then it wouldn't be difficult to implement the Canons of Judicial Conduct about -- as a judge not engaging in political activity?
A. That is correct. I would --
Q. What would be your standard of recusal? Do you wait for a motion from an attorney or in some situations do you do that yourself?
A. I think there are some situations where a judge would recuse on his or her own motion. I think there are -- you know, there are clear rules that define what are conflicts and some conflicts can be waived and some

Printed Page 5223 . . . . . Thursday, April 28, 1994
cannot. I think that it's important that people that are before a judge believe that a fair decision is going to be made and if there is some indication or some reason that the litigants or the attorneys would believe that the judge wasn't going to be fair, if I wasn't going to be fair, I would recuse myself.

Now, at the same time we all know that Family Court schedules are overbooked and you can't -- you know, you don't want to waste court time. I would not want to be in a position of recusing or excusing myself just in an instance of where it wasn't clearly indicated, but I wouldn't hesitate. I wouldn't stay in a case that I shouldn't be in.
Q. What are cases you think you would not hear? What would be your standard? When would you determine you would recuse yourself?
A. Well, any cases that involve people that I'm in business with or family members within a particular degree. I have a brother who practices law, for example, and it would not be appropriate for me to hear a case when my brother was the attorney or a litigant.

I'm associated with a large law firm and I think that there would be some things we'd have to work through in terms of whether any of the attorneys that I now practice with should ever appear before me.

I think that if a matter was uncontested or if the relationship had -- was disclosed and everybody waived, that that might be something that we could do, but I mean I would not want to -- I would not be in a position of making decisions based on attorneys being before me that I was in business with or are people that I knew closely as personal friends.
Q. One thing I did want to ask you about as you mentioned that you are in business apparently with some attorneys, I wasn't clear about that from the PDQ, but you own some property. Are your partners in that venture with attorneys, lawyers?
A. No, sir. I'm a one-third owner of some apartments on Heyward Street and neither of those partners -- there are three of us and we are -- the other two partners are not attorneys. I own a piece of property at Lake Murray with a gentleman in Columbia, Charles Cooper, who is an attorney and so that is not really a business venture, but that's something that to the extent that I have an economic interest with him, it probably wouldn't be -- it wouldn't be appropriate for me to have him in front of me.
Q. Your PDQ also shows that you're very active in the community. What do you understand your ethical responsibilities to be with regard to your community activities, as a judge?
A. I think most of the activities in which I participate now, the things where I'm a member of the board, I would not continue to be part of if I

Printed Page 5224 . . . . . Thursday, April 28, 1994
became a Family Court judge. I think that -- I reviewed the Canons this morning.

In terms of the -- it's possible for a judge to participate in activities that help advance the state of the law and I think that the Institute for Families in Society at the University of the South Carolina, for example, would probably be an activity in which I could continue to participate because it's something that clearly relates to the issues of law and would not involve advocacy of a particular position and I would not be lending my position to something in an inappropriate way.

In terms of the other nonprofits of which I'm a member or on the board, I think that it would probably not be appropriate for a judge to be a director of a development corporation for the City of Columbia or the Rape Crisis or one of those, so I would withdraw from those activities.
Q. You used the term director. Do you consider it only inappropriate if you're a director of one of those organizations?
A. No, sir, I think to be a member and the -- most of the ones I'm familiar -- I'm aware of, what I'm thinking about, where membership on the board is membership in the organization.
Q. All right.
A. But I think you -- I could be a member of the YWCA, for example. I don't think that the Canons prevent me from being a member of the YWCA and going to classes there or attending an exercise class. I don't think it would necessarily be appropriate for me to be a member of the board of directors, particularly with so much of the emphasis on those boards being either legal advice or fund-raising, and that would be two things that a judge should be very careful about in terms of providing outside the courtroom.
Q. Thank you. What kind of work schedule do you maintain now? Do you work weekends? Do you work Friday afternoons and what about the rest of the week?
A. Well, I work all week. I work Friday afternoons, and it's certainly not uncommon to work over a weekend. The work I do now frequently involves travel, attendance at meetings of political subdivisions that occur in the evening, so it's not uncommon for me to have a day that starts at 7:00 a.m. and doesn't end until midnight until we return from a meeting. So I mean long hours and substantial amounts of work are not anything that are alien to me and would foresee being able to be a very active, hard working person if I was allowed to become a judge.
Q. Have you given any thought to how you would organize your day if you're on the bench?

Printed Page 5225 . . . . . Thursday, April 28, 1994
A. I would like to -- the answer is yes, I have. And I have given thought to how I would try to organize the day and I would try to be as available as possible. I think that there are some aspects of Family Court that get bogged down that if -- I know some of our judges here in Richland County, for example, try to be available to hear uncontested matters, to deal with matters that might be contested, but need to be dealt with quickly so that a discovery issue could be -- could go forward, things like that. So I would try to be as available as possible, so that the use of the court system would be maximized.
Q. How would you approach demeanor on the bench? Who would be your role model?
A. I've been -- I think that the Family Court judges that I have seen throughout the state and the ones here in Richland County from -- some of the -- Judge Byars, Judge Burnside, Judge Campbell, Judge Mobley. I've participated in trials before Judge Cureton, who is now on the Appeals Court. I mean I have seen a number of judges -- and Judge Carol Connor, Judge Judy Bridges.

I've seen a number of judges that I think do an excellent job of maintaining a balance between being in control of the courtroom because the sanctity of the courtroom has to be protected. The business that goes on the Family Court is always important and I think that the atmosphere needs to be created where people are paying attention and they're very attentive to what is happening. But at the same time, a degree of humanness, of a sense of humor, being willing to have the tension reduced when it's appropriate are things that I would try to do in my courtroom if I was the judge.
Q. In terms of the Canons that will apply to you as a judge, how would you personally define gift and how would you define social hospitality which is acceptable and gift which is not acceptable for a judge to take?
A. A gift would be anything of value that was offered and I think it wouldn't be appropriate to accept a gift from an attorney that's going to practice in front of you or from a litigant where it was foreseeable that the person would be in front of you.

The same thing with social hospitality, and I think it's pretty easy to say that, well, I will not go to the beach house with Family Court lawyers. I mean that's pretty easy. I'm not going to do that. A judge shouldn't do that under any circumstances.

If I have a friend of mine who is not an attorney, a person and I accept hospitality and then that person later is a litigant, then you don't hear the case is how you deal with that. So I don't think that you become totally isolated, but I do think that particularly with respect to attorneys and with

Printed Page 5226 . . . . . Thursday, April 28, 1994
people who are foreseeable to be litigants, I think that you just stay away from situations where your impartiality can be questioned.
Q. But then again it sounds like you've said anything of value, that takes in most everything?
A. Yes, sir. Anything of value, I mean the -- I mean anything, I can't imagine what one -- I mean if -- I can't imagine what a gift would be that I would accept from any attorney that would be likely to practice in front of me.
Q. How do you plan to implement the Canon against ex parte communications?
A. The first way would be to not allow an attorney to -- or a person who was a litigant to raise an issue with respect to the case and discuss the case in any way. And I think that the way that's implemented in a broader sense is that you -- and -- you may -- I would make it clear from the very beginning that it would not be possible for me to ever discuss a case that was in front of me or going to be in front of me, so that people wouldn't be tempted to do that. There would not be any effort on the part of someone to do that. And if they did, I would ask them to stop because that's not appropriate.
Q. And we've had some different opinions about handling writing orders as a Family Court judge. What would be your intent about how to handle that?
A. If a matter was such that a decision -- I could make a decision immediately or within a very short period of time. The ideal thing would be to bring the attorneys back and to recite, I think sort of dictate, what the order would be and ask one of the parties to create a document based on what I had put on the record. I think you then protect the record in terms of the judicial decision, in both findings of fact and a conclusions of law. And you have a mechanism for the paperwork to actually be done, so I would use a combination of those.

And if for some reason that system wasn't -- wouldn't work or wasn't available, I would have attorneys submit -- prepare an order and submit it to the other side before it was submitted to the Court. If there was a problem with that, then we would have a hearing to have the judge make the decision because that's ultimately what the judge is supposed to do.
Q. For those orders that you would have composed by attorneys, where is your level of comfort about signing somebody else's order? What kind of work would you invest in looking behind what's drafted by another attorney?

Printed Page 5227 . . . . . Thursday, April 28, 1994
A. I think that the judge -- I would read the document, I would compare the document with notes that I had taken. And if there were discrepancies, I would have them corrected before I signed it.

And in terms of correcting discrepancies, again, you can't have an ex parte communication, so that would have to be communicated either in writing to both of the attorneys or through a conference call or something like that.
Q. Have you sought the pledge of a legislator prior to this screening --
A. No.
Q. -- directly or indirectly?
A. No.
Q. Have you asked or otherwise authorized any person to seek a pledge or a commitment for you?
A. No.
Q. Do you know of any solicitation for pledges on your behalf?
A. No.
Q. Have you ever been sanctioned or held in contempt by a court.
A. No.
Q. That's all the questions I have, Mr. Chairman.
SENATOR MCCONNELL: Thank you, sir. Any Members of the Committee have any questions? It doesn't appear anybody has any questions then. Thank you, ma'am. We appreciate you coming.
A. Thank you.
SENATOR MCCONNELL: Each of you, you're free to go as we finish with you, so if you need to get on to do something else, we don't want to hold you, especially in the delightful environment of this room.
REPRESENTATIVE ALEXANDER: This is the Senate side, isn't it?
SENATOR MCCONNELL: Yes, sir. We're as austere with the budget as we are with the air conditioning. We'll take -- I think the court reporter needs to take a quick break, and so why don't we take a five-minute recess.

(A short break was taken)
THE CHAIRMAN: Let's get started. Our next candidate is Leslie Kirkland Riddle. Ms. Riddle, if you'd come forward, please.
MS. RIDDLE: Here.
THE CHAIRMAN: If you'd stand and raise your right hand.
LESLIE KIRKLAND RIDDLE, having been duly sworn, testified as follows:
THE CHAIRMAN: Have you had a chance to review your Personal Data Questionnaire?
MS. RIDDLE: I have.

Printed Page 5228 . . . . . Thursday, April 28, 1994
THE CHAIRMAN: Is it correct?
MS. RIDDLE: It's correct except for I have purchased stamps to mail out my letter of intent and some envelopes and stationery.
THE CHAIRMAN: We'll ask you to -- we have that information about the cost to amend your PDQ to reflect the amount you spent on that, if you can give us that information.
MS. RIDDLE: Okie doke.
THE CHAIRMAN: Any objection to our making this Summary a part of the record of your sworn testimony?
MS. RIDDLE: No objection.
THE CHAIRMAN: We'll do that at this time.

PERSONAL DATA QUESTIONNAIRE SUMMARY

1. Leslie Kirkland Riddle
Home Address: Business Address:
10 Timber Knoll Drive P. O. Box 8012
Irmo, SC 29063 Columbia, SC 29202

2. She was born in Columbia, South Carolina on December 30, 1958. She is presently 35 years old.

4. She was married to Charles Dayton Riddle, III on November 1, 1986. She has three children: Charles Dayton, IV, age 6; Coleman Kirkland, age 4; and Davis Cannon, age 2.

5. Military Service: No.

6. She attended the University of South Carolina, Math course in summer school in 1978 and English while still in high school; Clemson University, 1977 to 1981, B.A. in Secondary Education; and the University of South Carolina School of Law, 1981 to 1984, J.D.

8. Legal/Judicial education during the past five years:
She has attended Continuing Legal Education seminars each year. Most of the seminars were related to domestic issues.

12. Legal experience since graduation from law school:
Kirkland, Dodson, Rush and Riddle, Attorneys at Law, 1988 - present

Printed Page 5229 . . . . . Thursday, April 28, 1994
Partner in law firm primarily involved in the representation of parties in divorce actions (including issues of equitable division of property, alimony, child custody, child support and visitation), representation of parties in custody litigation, representation of parties in adoption proceedings, representation of defendants in child abuse and neglect matters, representation of juvenile criminal defendants in Family Court, and representation of children in child custody cases as their attorney/guardian ad litem. Other areas handled included the preparation of wills, estate work, personal injury, worker's compensation, and criminal defense.
Special Assistant Solicitor, Fifth Judicial Circuit, 1993
Prosecution of child abuse and neglect cases for the State and the Department of Social Services including the preparation and trial of abuse and neglect cases against parents and other individuals accused of physical, emotional, educational and sexual abuse or neglect of children.
Volunteer Guardian ad Litem Project of Richland County, 1988-1990
Representation of abused and neglected children and their guardians in Family Court to ensure that the best interests of the children were protected; and further, that all actions taken by the Department of Social Services and other child protective agencies conformed to the law.
Kirkland, Aaron and Alley, 1986-1988
Associate in law firm with primary emphasis in divorce, child custody, child support, visitation and related matters. Other areas handled included the preparation of wills, estate work, personal injury and criminal defense.
Fifth Circuit Solicitor's Office, 1982-1986
Family Court Solicitor, 1985-1986: Assistant Solicitor assigned exclusively to Family Court, handling all matters relating to the prosecution of juvenile criminal defendants and the prosecution of individuals accused of physical, emotional and sexual abuse or neglect of children. Responsibilities included the preparation and trial of cases, decisions regarding the transfer of jurisdiction to General Sessions Court on serious, violent or repeat offenders, trial of motions to transfer jurisdiction, trial of motions to detain juvenile defendants pending trial on serious, repeat and violent offenders, writing briefs and arguing appeals to the Court of General Sessions and the South Carolina Supreme Court.

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