With so many legal experts in Cape Girardeau County, those seeking representation have a lot of good choices to pick from, said Circuit Judge John Heisserer, a member of the Cape Girardeau County Bar Association for more than 20 years.

"We have a wide variety of lawyers that specialize in many areas of law," he said. "Not criminal and family law but estate and health care law. You name it and we've got it. Just about every specialty is covered by some member of the local bar association."

There are 152 members in the county bar association, including lawyers, judges and clerks.

"It absolutely is growing," president J. Michael Payne said. "The number of lawyers in Cape Girardeau County the last 20 years has doubled."

Other association officers include Patrick Douglas, a law clerk at U.S. District Judge Lewis Blanton's office, and lawyers Steve Southard and John Grimm.

The association maintains a law library available to members in the office building adjacent to the Common Pleas Courthouse in Cape Girardeau.

The office of president traditionally has been rotated through the membership based on admission to the state bar and length of practice in the county. Payne shares legislative news on legal topics with members.

"As president of the bar, I try to be a conduit of information from either the courts or the Missouri Bar," Payne said.

The bar also offers social functions, including a Christmas party and dinner dances.

But the most useful benefit of membership may be the weekly "lawyer lunch," Heisserer said.

"It's a very congenial group -- at least at lunch," he said and chuckled. "You can get a pulse on what's happening in the community."

Although members sometimes use the luncheons as a time-saving opportunity to talk with another member involved in a common case, the gatherings are usually about fraternizing with peers and relaxing.

"They can be with their fellow lawyers in a social situation where they're not adversaries," he said. "For their clients, lawyers have to be adversaries to each other. And sometimes hard feelings are involved, particularly when clients hate one another."

Social activities enable attorneys to have good working relationships with one another by renewing acquaintances and setting a tone for casual conversations outside the law, he said.

Payne joined the county bar association in 1980, the same year as Cape Girardeau County Prosecuting Attorney Morley Swingle, he said. The two were classmates at the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Law.

Members have the chance to gain continuing legal education credit through seminars that are held locally, Payne said. To maintain a license to practice, Missouri attorneys must garner 15 hours of continuing legal education credit per year.

"Most of us are general practitioners," Payne said. "There is specialization, but many of the lawyers in Cape County have to know how to do many different things. After all, we are in the country."

mwells@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 160