DES MOINES- The Iowa Supreme Court selected District Judge Sean W. McPartland, Cedar Rapids, and District Judge Lawrence P. McLellan, Des Moines, as Iowa Business Specialty Court judges.

Judge McPartland serves as a Tama County Distrcit Court Judge.

The selections follow the retirement of Judge Annette Scieszinski, an original judge on the business court. The two other original business court judges, Michael Huppert, Des Moines, and John Telleen, LeClaire, remain on the business court.

The supreme court based its selection of Judge McPartland and Judge McLellan on the judges’ educational background, judicial and trial practice experience in complex commercial cases, and personal interest in the project. Judge McPartland was appointed district court judge in 2008. Judge McLellan was appointed in 2012.

The Iowa Judicial Branch has accepted 48 cases into the business court since the project began accepting eligible cases on May 1, 2013. The primary aims of the Iowa Business Specialty Court is to move business or complex commercial cases through the court system expeditiously, with lower costs for litigants, and with more efficient use of judicial branch resources.

District Court Judge, Sean W. McPartland:

District 6

Judge Sean W. McPartland is a district court judge in the Sixth Judicial District and is based in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Judge McPartland was appointed to the district court bench in 2008 after practicing in general civil litigation with law firms in Kansas City, Missouri (1984-1989), and in Cedar Rapids, Iowa (1989-2008).

Since his appointment to the bench, Judge McPartland served on the Iowa Civil Justice Task Force Steering Committee from 2009-2012 and contributed to the report entitled Reforming the Iowa Justice System, Report of the Iowa Civil Justice Reform Task Force, January 30, 2012. Judge McPartland also served as a member of the Advisory Committee Concerning Certain Civil Justice Reform Task Force Recommendations beginning in 2012, with the work of the Committee leading to the adoption of 2015 amendments to the Iowa Rules of Civil Procedure related to areas including required initial disclosures, discovery, and expedited civil actions.

Judge McPartland received his law degree in 1984, with distinction, from the University of Iowa College of Law.