Ellicott City attorney David Titman has been a worker in a chicken processing plant, a carpenter and lawyer with decades of experience.
But Titman wants one job that he hasn?t held: Howard County Circuit Court judge.
Titman said he hopes to change that Sept. 12 when he will challenge sitting judges Louis Becker and Richard Bernhardt for two open seats on the county bench.
“I have the right qualifications, I have the right attitude and I?ll do an excellent job for the people of Howard County,” he said.
Titman said he isn?t bothered that a selection committee that nominated Becker and Bernhardt a year ago for the judgeships passed him over. Gov. Robert Ehrlich appointed the current judges.
“The sitting judges are essentially temps,” he said. “The ultimate decision should be with the voters of Howard County.”
Titman has lived all over the United States: Virginia, New York, Oregon, Louisiana, New Mexico, Georgia and Maryland.
While in Georgia, Titman worked blue-collar jobs that he said gives him the perspective needed to be a good judge.
“Working in different jobs gives you perspective on people and on life,” he said. “I don?t feel that blue-collar work is beneath me. I enjoy that kind of work.”
Titman has 33 years of legal experience, including jobs as an assistant federal U.S. Attorney, criminal prosecutor, legal aid attorney, criminal defense attorney and civil plaintiff?s attorney.
He graduated from Albany Law School in 1972 and has practiced law in New Mexico, Louisiana and Maryland.
Titman also pointed to his experience in mediation ? which stresses collaborative conflict resolution ? makes him qualified for the job.
If elected to a 15-year term, Titman said he would order drug addicts to attend religious-based recovery programs, such as the Helping Up Mission, which counts lower recidivism rates than traditional punishment.
“It?s a program I think is set up to deal with drug addicts in a positive way,” he said.
