A Muncie law firm will remain intact after both of its longtime partners take the bench in January.

Gov. Mitch Daniels on Friday named William G. Bruns with Cannon & Bruns to be a judge of the Muncie City Court. He succeeds Judge Linda Ralu Wolf, who's been on the bench since 1988 and has been elected to Delaware Circuit 3.

This follows the November election of his longtime law partner, Tom Cannon Jr., as Delaware Circuit 5 judge. He replaces Judge Chris Teagle who's been filling a vacancy since spring. Cannon has been an attorney for 34 years and is also a former juvenile referee.

Bruns plans to continue his civil practice while holding the part-time judicial post Monday and Wednesday afternoons, and all day Thursday. He will handle only civil work, and not handle anything else such as the criminal or domestic cases his partner did.

The name on the door will remain the same, Bruns said - he'd practiced for decades with partner Thomas Cannon Sr., who died in 2003.

"We'll remain intact, but it'll become an individual proprietorship," Bruns said. "I'll keep a limited civil practice going, but will be here."

Bruns has been an attorney for more than four decades, practicing at his current law firm since 1971. A former deputy prosecutor, the 1961 Indiana University School of Law - Bloomington graduate also has served as a pro tem judge and was formerly a judge advocate for the U.S. Air Force.

"This will be a new experience for me, and at my age it's always good to have new challenges," he said.