Erik Swenk

Age: Editor’s note: If Oviedo Community News could not confirm the age for each candidate in a race, we omit the ages for all candidate in the race out of fairness.

Registered political party: Prohibited by Judicial Canon from answering

Where they live: Wekiva Springs

Where they work: Office of Appeal Hearings, Office of Inspector General, State of Florida

Prior work experience: As the owner of my own law firm, I practiced civil law in both county and circuit courts throughout Central Florida. I also dedicated my time as a volunteer attorney with the 9th Circuit State Attorney’s Office advocating for victims and working with local law enforcement to prosecute crimes.

Prior political experience: Prohibited by Judicial Canon from answering

Platform: Erik Swenk for Seminole County Judge Family, Community, and Service are the three pillars of my campaign.

Why they are running, in three sentences: My decision to run for Seminole County Judge is based on my commitment to serve our citizens in a way that ensures that our community standards are upheld through enforcement of our laws while at the same time providing compassion for the unique underlying issues that our citizens face in their daily lives. I believe it is important that every citizen has access to our court and that the system that gives them that access is interpreted and applied fairly to all. As service to others is my driving factor, I believe that my personal and professional experience will have the largest positive impact on our county through the judiciary, specifically county court.

Most recent campaign finance report: $66,325

Endorsements: Erik Swenk For Seminole County Judge

Frank Anzaldi	HySafe
Michael Brehne	The Law Offices of Michael B. Brehne, P.A.
Euri Cerrud	Cerrud Law, P.A.
Giff Chumley	Assistant County Attorney, Volusia County
Beverly Evans	Axel Real Estate, Inc.
Jon Gilbert	Colling Gilbert Wright, The Florida Firm
Jim Gordon	Beers & Gordon, P.A.
James Hattaway	Hattaway Realty
John Edward Jones	The Law Offices of John Edward Jones, P.A.
Imran Malik	Malik Law, P.A.
Winsome Marie	Birdy’s Herbs & Garden, L.L.C.
Tavo Mendez	Rock and Brews Oviedo
John Overchuck	Overchuck Law Firm
Fay Pappas	Morgan and Morgan, P.A.
Michael Radka	Mercy Road Initiatives
Laura Lee Shields	Dan Newlin Injury Attorneys
Bill Stueber	Philanthropist
Fritz Voltair	Recovery House of Central Florida
Chris Wilson	CJ Wilson Law, P.A.

Campaign website

Fun fact about the candidate: I am an Eagle Scout and the Vice Chairman for Seminole District, Scouting America. I am also the Assistant Scoutmaster for my son’s scout patrol, the Fire Foxes.

Candidate Q&A: Candidate Q&A: The questions below are based on voter questions and expressed priorities. Each of the candidates within a race were asked the same questions and given the same amount of time to respond. The candidates’ answers were fact checked, checked for spelling and grammar but otherwise unedited.

What professional experiences have best prepared you for the bench?

As the owner of my own law firm, I practiced in both county and circuit courts throughout Central Florida representing financial institutions in foreclosure and creditor’s rights cases. I also dedicated my time as a volunteer attorney with the 9th Circuit State Attorney’s Office helping advocate on behalf of victims to prosecute crimes while supporting our local law enforcement. Largely, the bulk of my legal experience is derived from my close to 10 years serving the State of Florida as a hearing officer and hearing officer supervisor. In these roles I have served in a quasi-judicial capacity ruling on motions and objections, conducting evidentiary hearings, and presiding over and adjudicating administrative appeals subject to direct appeal to our State District Courts of Appeal. I have also developed and provided direct training to my office’s hearing officers throughout the state on the matters of high-volume order writing, guidance for administrative disqualification hearings, guidance for managing pro se parties and building a record, and procedure for default judgements. Professionally, I also believe my years in the restaurant industry as a server and my service on many different boards in our county provides great experience when it comes to working with people and understanding the different resources available in our county to address the many underlying issues that cause the actions that bring our citizens into our courts in the first place.

What role should personal values play in judicial decision-making?

Certain values such as integrity, temperament, compassion and work ethic broadly play an important role in carrying out the general duties as a judge. Temperament and compassion allow a judge to better relate to the parties when it comes to identifying and understanding the issue and to help moderate many of the emotions that are inextricably tied to the process. Some of these personal values, such as integrity, may even play a role in the decision-making process. However, largely, personal values have, or should have, very little bearing on the decision-making process itself. The guiding force behind judicial decision-making is largely based solely on the facts of the case and the application of law to those facts while keeping separate personal values, beliefs or emotions.

How do you balance precedent with evolving societal standards?

In the administrative realm, as it is on the county bench, our judges are not afforded the discretion to deviate away from precedent. Precedent serves a great purpose in continuity and provides our communities reliable guidance on what actions can and cannot be taken. Our Seminole County Court is bound by decisions made by our 18th Circuit as it is by our 5th DCA and Florida Supreme Court. Our county court judges, just as personal values are separated from decision-making, are likewise bound from allowing personal values or societal influences to provide grounds to deviate from binding precedent.

What steps do you take to avoid conflicts of interest?

I generally do not involve myself in organizations or activities that could create conflicts of interest. When a conflict is ever discovered, I immediately remove myself from the occurrence to resolve the conflict.

What barriers to justice do you see in the current system, and how would you address them?

Some of the biggest issues involve state funding to ensure highly qualified and long-term support staff of the judiciary as well as additional judicial seats to ensure proper and timely administration of our justice system. After all, justice delayed is justice denied. Though some of this is largely a legislative issue and something difficult for only one person to address or overcome, there are a few ways that I could address these issues; at least when it comes to proper and timely administration of cases. First, as a hearing officer, I presided over 1,600 appeals in my first three years and did so without missing a deadline or having received any negative treatment for any order of mine that was appealed to one of our state’s DCAs. This is a product of great time management, use of multiple management tools and dedicated preparation and review of pleadings prior to hearing. Second, what I practiced as a hearing officer is something I learned as an attorney in many of our county courts, and that is providing general procedural guidance to an entire courtroom gallery so that all parties, pro se or not, are apprised of how their case will proceed, what authorities will govern and what actions they can and cannot take on their case. This, I have found, drastically reduces confusion and streamlines the procedural process, particularly in county court.