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There was a moment during Judge Paul Felix’s remarks, after he was announced as the next Court of Appeals of Indiana judge, where he took a break from talking about the legal profession and thanking the various colleagues who’d helped him reach this point in his career.
Felix turned his attention to his three children, seated in plush, ornate seats in Gov. Eric Holcomb’s office at the Statehouse.
His kids, ages 11 to 21, know his “goofy, dorky” side, Felix joked.
“And I know you have to be sitting there wondering, ‘How did he accomplish this?’” he said, drawing chuckles from the crowd that included Court of Appeals judges and Indiana Supreme Court justices.
Then Felix got serious, answering the question he posed.
“To that, I say step number one is try,” he said. “Don’t give up, and work hard.”
Thinking back to that moment later, Felix’s wife of a quarter century, Nicki Felix, said it was one of life’s many teaching moments.
“It was good that he sees that moment,” she said.
‘Pushed toward helping children’
The attention Felix has given to youth throughout his career was a prominent theme as Holcomb and others welcomed Felix to the appellate bench at the June 29 announcement.
Felix, who fills the vacancy left by the recently retired Senior Judge Margret Robb, is coming to the Court of Appeals from the Hamilton Circuit Court in Noblesville, where he has been a judge since 2009. There, Felix helped establish the Hamilton County Youth Assistance Program, which was founded in 2011 and focuses on preventing at-risk youth from entering the justice system.
The program provides mentoring, tutoring and services to youth upon referrals from teachers or other interested people.
Felix also helped bring the Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative to Hamilton County. The initiative, which started in 2006 as a pilot, is meant to reallocate public resources from incarceration to investments in youth and their families. Hamilton County now has a screening tool to determine whether juveniles should be detained or if they can be released on alternatives to detention.
In announcing Felix as his appointee, Holcomb said he heard repeatedly about Felix’s compassion, fairness and commitment to equal access to justice — specifically to the juvenile justice system.
“Those traits come out very quickly when you spend even just a few minutes with Judge Felix,” Holcomb said. “He sees people … when their lives have been turned upside down or ripped inside out, when they’re at their last wits end, don’t know where to turn.”
Felix’s passion for people “shines through,” Holcomb added.
Felix said he feels “pushed toward helping children.”
He told a story from his time as a deputy prosecutor in Johnson County prosecuting domestic violence cases. He had just secured a conviction when a member of the jury walked up to him in the hallway after the trial, shook his hand and said, “I wish there was someone like you around when I was a kid.”
Felix said that drives his work with the juvenile programs.
“I think about that juror in everything I do,” he said. “How can I improve the lives of those who need a hand up?”
Asked if he foresees any challenges in trying to still have a direct impact on youth and other causes from the appellate bench, Felix said he hopes having a more influential position will help promote the programs.
“Why keep programs that work so well so local when it can be statewide?” he said.
‘He runs a tight court’
David McPherson, president of the Hamilton County Bar Association, said he’s practiced in front of Felix in court for about three years.
McPherson described Felix as a fair judge who doesn’t have an issue explaining his rulings if asked.
“He runs a tight court,” McPherson said.
During the pandemic, McPherson commended Felix for being flexible and finding a way to balance the health of lawyers and clients with the need to keep the docket moving.
At the announcement, Court of Appeals Chief Judge Robert Altice noted Felix has done a lot of work over the years as a judge and prosecuting attorney.
“You know your way around the courtroom,” Altice said. “But what’s more important to me and my colleagues and everyone else associated with this process is when you leave your office every day and close the door, your job’s not done. It’s more than that. You’re out in the public, in the community, out in the legal field, and you’ve just done a yeoman’s job in that regard.”
Altice and Indiana Chief Justice Loretta Rush both commented on the lofty task of succeeding Robb. Altice joked that the court would provide a couple extra pairs of socks to help Felix fill Robb’s shoes.
Rush called Felix a “real judicial leader.”
“He’s usually tapping me on the shoulder saying he’d like to get involved in something,” she said. “And I usually say yes.”
‘I’ve never been more proud of my husband’
Born in Elkhart, Felix attended Indiana University and received his bachelor’ in 1992, then graduated from the IU Maurer School of Law in 1995.
His wife, Nicki, said Felix always thought he would be an elected prosecutor before being a judge — he narrowly missed out on being the Republican nominee for Hamilton County prosecutor in 2016 — but that this is “just part of his journey.”
“I’ve never been more proud of my husband,” she said through tears after the announcement.
Felix remarked that this will be his first time working in Indianapolis. He pledged to his fellow COA judges to be a partner with them on the bench, and to “strive to be considerate, conscientious and clear in everything I do.”•
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