McAvan appointed associate district judge

FAIRFIELD – Jefferson County Assistant County Attorney Pat McAvan has been appointed a district associate judge, and will begin his new role within a month.

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds made the announcement Friday that McAvan had won the job to fill a newly created position in the Eighth Judicial District, which covers Southeast Iowa. McAvan will preside over cases in Jefferson, Washington, Keokuk, Mahaska and Poweshiek counties.

McAvan said an associate district court handles misdemeanor cases, whereas district court handles felonies. This particular associate district court that McAvan will be working in will handle almost entirely juvenile cases, he said.

McAvan has been Jefferson County Assistant Attorney for almost 24 years, starting in 1999, his first job after graduating from the University of Kansas School of Law.

“When I find something I enjoy, I stick with it,” McAvan said.

McAvan said juvenile cases were some of his first assignments on the job, and he grew to enjoy working with kids.

“I’m very connected to activities for kids because of my own family,” he said. “You have the opportunity to have a positive impact for people early in life, to guide them in the right direction when change is easier. I’ve seen a number of success stories, and they’re fun to be a part of.”

One of the perks about this appointment is that McAvan won’t have to uproot from his home in Fairfield. However, he won’t be able to start seeing cases in Jefferson County for a little while because of a conflict of interest, since he has started work on some of those cases as a prosecutor.

McAvan said he will use the next month to tie up any loose ends with his existing cases, so the next assistant county attorney will have a smooth transition. The other assistant county attorney in the office is Mike Brown, and he’s part-time.

Jefferson County Attorney Chauncey Moulding is just the second county attorney McAvan has worked under. The previous county attorney, Tim Dille, was the one who hired McAvan. McAvan said that, as he became more engaged in juvenile law, he started looking for opportunities to be a juvenile court judge about seven or eight years ago.

Of all the positions he’s applied for, he’s most excited about this upcoming one.

“I’ll get to continue my work in the area of law I’m most interested in,” he said.

McAvan is from DeWitt, Iowa. He and his wife Melissa have three daughters: Emily, a junior at St. Ambrose University; Sarah, a freshman at UNI; and Anna, a seventh-grader at Fairfield Middle School.

Call Andy Hallman at 641-575-0135 or email him at andy.hallman@southeastiowaunion.com