Judge Norton is active in the legal community as a member of the Lawyers Association of St. Louis where he has appeared as a cast member of their annual “Gridiron” show, and the Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis. He has served on the Disproportionate Minority Confinement Governing Board, the Missouri Statewide Legal Services Commission for Low Income Missourians, and on the Board of Directors of the Missouri Municipal and Associate Circuit Judges Association. Community service involves serving as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Action for Autism and on the Executive Committee of Howard Park School for developmentally challenged children.

Judge Norton is a partner with the firm of Blitz, Bardgett & Deutsch where his practice focuses on the areas of mediation, arbitration and special master appointments. As a retired Circuit and Appellate Court Judge he has extensive experience in the courtroom, with hundreds of jury and non-jury trials, and has been assigned by The Supreme Court to cases involving complex litigation and felony matters.

Judge Norton was appointed Judge for the Missouri Court of Appeals in 2002. He served as Chief Judge of the Court and presided over the settlement docket until he left the Court in 2015. He has also previously served as Chief Legal Counsel to Governor Bob Holden, where he oversaw the legal departments for all 15 state agencies and reviewed judicial appointments, death penalty cases, budget issues, clemency applications and legislation. Judge Norton also practiced law in the former Briscoe and Norton Law firm until he was elected to serve as Associate Circuit Judge for Ralls County. He was reelected to this position in 1998.

He is also a Past-President of the Missouri Association of Probate and Associate Circuit Judges. He has been active in many areas of judicial education, including serving on the faculty of The National Judicial College, and is a frequent presenter on various topics regarding the law in Missouri and in other states. He was the Chairman of the Supreme Court’s Trial Judge Education Committee until 2014.