District Judge Retires after 12 Years

MARSHALL — After 12 years on the bench, U.S. District Judge T. John Ward has retired to take advantage of a golden opportunity — practicing law with his son. “I thought it was a (rare) opportunity for people to get,” the 68-year-old said of practicing law with son Johnny Ward at Ward & Smith law firm in Longview. The federal courthouse is losing another judge, as U.S. Magistrate Judge Charles “Chad” Everingham, 43, resigned to become a partner in Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld and open the firm’s new Longview office. The law firm will become the largest to set up a satellite office in the Eastern District of Texas.

Ward — often referred to as the “king of the rocket docket” for speeding patent cases through the system — and Everingham — the first U.S. magistrate judge stationed in the Marshall federal courthouse — both vacated their posts Sept. 30.