If all goes as planned, voters can expect a hand from the Mercer County Bar Association when it comes to choosing candidates in the county's upcoming judicial race.

Association president Thomas Kuster said Tuesday the bar association will release ratings for candidates for Mercer County Court of Common Pleas near the end of April, about three weeks prior to the May 20 primary.

Nine candidates -- James Goodwin, Joann Jofery, Robert Kochems, Margaret Lucas, William G. McConnell Jr., Stephen Mirizio, James Nevant, John Reed and Christopher St. John -- had filed their nomination petitions as of 2 p.m. Tuesday, just hours before the state deadline, for two seats open in 2004.

Those candidates previously announced plans to run for the job, which pays $121,272 plus benefits annually.

The official list will not be available until today, a spokesman for the Pennsylvania Department of State said. Judicial candidates must file their nomination papers in Harrisburg at the state elections office, Brian McDonald, a state elections spokesperson, said. The list was not official Tuesday because as of one hour before the filing deadline, candidates were still standing in line to file their paperwork.

It is only the second time in history the association has rated candidates. In 1995 -- when voters faced a field of five candidates for judge -- the association rated candidates for the first time, although the bar voted in 1954 to endorse Leo McKay.

Kuster, who took over duties as president on Jan. 1, said the bar believes the ratings proved beneficial to voters in 1995 and anticipates they'll have a similar impact this time around.

"I'd hope so," Kuster said. "That's why the bar association feels it is a service to the voters of Mercer County and that's why we're undertaking the process."

That process, he said, began recently when "we appointed a committee to come up with a procedure and it made a recommendation that was accepted at our last meeting."

That ad hoc committee, chaired by Sharon attorney William Madden, recommended sending out a questionnaire to all of the candidates, although candidates "don't have to respond," Kuster said.

Once the forms are returned, probably near the end of March, the completed questionnaires will be sent to all of the association's members, which Kuster said numbers about 130. Members will then be given a couple of weeks to fill out their ratings, which in 1995 included "well qualified," "qualified" or "not qualified."

While Kuster couldn't provide specifics on what questions will be asked of the candidates, he said the committee was asked to review those used in 1995 to see "if they felt any changes or revisions" needed to be made.

And, Kuster said, "I know they made some slight changes in the questions."

"They'll be similar to last time," he said, adding that they're much like those proscribed by the Pennsylvania Bar Association for appellate court candidates.

"They're basically the same questions," Kuster said.

The 1995 questionnaire was 12 pages long and included questions about the candidates' education, experience, number of jury trials, courts of practice, significant matters litigated and appellate experience. Responses were sent to 134 lawyers that year, and 108 responded.

Kuster believes the responses will be even more important this time around with two 10-year terms up for grabs. One is the result of Judge Michael J. Wherry retiring and the other was created by an act of the Legislature at the request of Mercer County officials.

"This has never happened in Mercer County before," Kuster said, referring to the two available judicial seats. "That's unusual, not for bigger counties, but for Mercer County."

As for the fourth courtroom being built for the additional judge's use, Kuster said "plans are pretty well set."

"I don't know specifically what the layout is going to be, but all of the existing offices are going to remain," he said. "And I'm sure the courtroom and chambers, and places for clerks, will all be in place by the fall election."

Herald Staff Writer Amanda Smith-Teutsch contributed to this story.