One came from South Memphis, the other starred at MUS, and both want to be a judge Lawyers seeking election as circuit court judge rose on different paths. Yolanda Kight specialized in family law. David Rudolph often represented workers and companies in discrimination cases.

Ted Evanoff | Memphis Commercial Appeal

Editor's note: A pair of experienced lawyers raised on far different sides of Memphis are on the ballot for judge of Circuit Court Division 9.

Circuit court matters include divorce, automobile accident, medical malpractice, personal injuries, wrongful death, breach of contract and workers’ compensation cases. Judicial candidates do not declare a political party affiliation.

Yolanda R. Kight rose out of humble South Memphis, first as a paralegal, then an attorney with her own law practice. She's now a Shelby County magistrate.

David M. Rudolph starred at a private Memphis high school, graduated from a top law school, then worked in prominent law firms. Gov. Bill Haslam appointed him interim judge of Circuit Court Division 9 in September.

State law requires appointed judges who wish to continue on the bench run in the next general election, which takes place Aug. 2. Here's a look at the candidates:

More: Editorial | Our recommendations in Aug. 2 county election: Part I

More: Editorial Board interviews with Aug. 2 county election candidates

Yolanda Kight

Shelby County Magistrate Yolanda Rochelle Kight said her horizon widened by chance.

Kight, now 48, was a young graduate of LeMoyne-Owen College working in customer service at manufacturer Hunter Fan when she met trailblazing federal Judge Bernice Bouie Donald.

Like the judge, Kight was among her family’s first college grads, but she wasn’t sure of her future. While chatting at a social event, the judge suggested the young woman become a lawyer. The goal struck Kight as lofty, though she succeeded.

Kight now faces interim Judge David M. Rudolph in the Aug. 2 election to select a judge for Shelby County Circuit Court Division 9.

Brought up as a latchkey child whose mother worked nights, Kight grew up in South Memphis and graduated from Hamilton High School, she said, the granddaughter of a city sanitation worker. Into her 30s she raised her own three children as a single mother. She never forgot the judge’s words.

“My life reflects the grit and grind of most people in Memphis,” Kight said, pointing out Donald’s advice led her first to a paralegal job that assists attorneys.

She earned a paralegal studies degree in 1998 and soon enrolled at the University of Memphis law school. After graduating in 2002, she was hired at the old Memphis law firm Armstrong Allen.

She handled real estate cases and eventually went on her own, launching the Law Office of Yolanda Kight. Her mother began helping in the office and eventually earned a degree in organizational management from Bethel University.

“I remember how much we struggled when I was young. I remember love,” Kight said. “My mom taught me faith and hard work can get you through.”

As clients streamed in, Kight said, she learned to help irate men and women calm down. She created a soothing room, put on music, called it the oasis. Divorce cases occupied half her workload. She also took on bankruptcy, landlord-tenant disputes and similar cases.

“The way I practice, I take a holistic approach,” said Kight, who has taken religious courses for two years at Memphis Theological Seminary. “We have to cure what’s going on in the community.”

Once the nation fell into recession in 2008, bills piled up. In 2010, Kight filed for bankruptcy. She claimed $241,166 in assets and $731,949 in liabilities, including $160,498 in student loans owed the U.S. Department of Education, $49,981 owed First Tennessee Bank and $34,264 owed the IRS. She also had filed personal bankruptcies in 1999, 1998 and 1992.

Kight said past financial matters do not reflect on her ability to serve as a judge.

“Personal experience is what makes you a great judge,” Kight said. “It’s no small feat I’m even here, a magistrate judge.”

In 2015, Kight was selected for the salaried position of magistrate by Shelby County commissioners. She is one of eight magistrates, also known as judicial commissioners.

Magistrates assist judges. They oversee bond hearings, decide who should remain in jail, hold preliminary hearings on drug cases, issue protection orders and handle similar duties. The position was created to help ease crowding in jail.

Running for judge is her second election campaign. In 2014, Kight fell short in a three-way primary race for Shelby County clerk.

A recent poll of local attorneys by the Memphis Bar Association asked which candidate should preside over Division 9. The results show 112 ventured no opinion, 167 favored Kight and 811 picked Rudolph.

Kight said she’s ready for a judgeship, groomed by her life, her duties as a magistrate, being an adjunct professor at U of M law school and her law practice.

“To be a good judge you have to have professional experience, which I do,” Kight said.

David Rudolph

Judge David M. Rudolph long ago knew he wanted to be a judge.

He remembers summer visits as a boy to the office of his grandfather, Judge Ira D. Smith, who presided over the circuit court in Hopkinsville, Kentucky.

Today, Rudolph presides over his own court.

“You never plan on being a judge, but it was in the back of my mind,” Rudolph said. “I love being a circuit court judge.”

Gov. Bill Haslam appointed the Memphis lawyer interim judge of Circuit Court Division 9 in September to fill the vacancy of retiring Judge Robert L. Childers.

Shelby County voters will choose between Rudolph and Shelby County Magistrate Yolanda Kight in the Aug. 2 election.

Rudolph, 55, has specialized in business litigation and employment law at four key Memphis law firms since working in law school temporarily as a clerk for the famous Bailey Brown.

“He was a true mentor,” Rudolph said of the late Brown, a federal judge whose rulings set in motion Shelby County Schools desegregation and forbade construction of Interstate 40 through Overton Park in Memphis.

“I think I have the right judicial demeanor,” Rudolph said. “I don’t take myself too seriously. Lawyers know I’m fair. I respect the process and I respect them.”

Rudolph made headlines as a teenage athlete. He was a star quarterback in 1979 and 1980 at Memphis University School. His father, Jake, for decades coached the private school’s football team. Vanderbilt University offered the younger Rudolph a four-year scholarship, he said. He went there for undergraduate and law school.

Coming back from Nashville, Rudolph joined the high-profile Memphis law firm Burch Porter & Johnson, where Brown had been a partner before becoming a judge. He then went to Martin Tate Morrow & Marston, then Ogletree Deakins Nash Smoak & Stewart, and finally Bourland Heflin Alvarez Minor & Matthews. The latter describes itself as a small firm attractive to senior lawyers who want to focus on their legal specialty.

Rudolph’s focus has been commercial litigation and employment law. Cases he highlights include representing a Memphis Fire Department supervisor sued for racial discrimination, a worker claiming disability discrimination, a bank sued for age discrimination, a truck line sued for sexual harassment and an employee locked in a pension dispute. Judgments favored his side in each case, he said.

“I’ve represented plaintiffs and I’ve represented defendants,” Rudolph said. “I’m thankful when a client says, ‘Thank you for being there, for righting a wrong.’ "

Working in his favor on the bench, he said, is he knows many of the 1,000 or so lawyers who appear in the circuit courtrooms. Most cases are settled short of a trial. But some matters drag on when people can’t agree on a settlement.

“It’s important to know the lawyers practicing in your court,’’ Rudolph said. “Sometimes you have to nudge the parties to resolve the case.”