Thank you very much for hosting me at the Bucks County Justice Center last Wednesday. The opportunity to closely view the judicial process reaffirmed my conviction that judging is a discipline of and for good-hearted people who strive to fairly balance the scale of justice between legal stability and freedom, and it confirmed that the law is a direction in which I undoubtedly hope to travel.
Aside from gathering a more complete understanding of the lesser-known elements of judging—a worthwhile exercise in itself—I watched you bring a refreshing dose of human-to-human common sense to an otherwise strictly procedural (and thereby artificial) process. You reminded me that judging, like most careers, is, first and foremost, about people. Of course, the term “people” to which I refer includes plaintiffs and defendants, but “people” also includes attorneys, witnesses, court marshals, “minute clerks,” the public, law clerks, and, of course, judges. So, when I observed your pre- and post-trial conferences with the attorneys and watched you mediate the parties’ claims with painless and efficient level-headedness, and when you allowed the submission of potentially superfluous evidence in order to “get it right,” and when you treated all members of your courtroom—including occasionally fumbling advocates and alleged criminals—with impeccable dignity, I was reminded …show more content…
Please also thank your law clerk, Mrs. Parzych, and your secretary, Mrs. Bingel, for welcoming me to your chambers, for their helpfulness, and for their flexibility throughout the day. Neither you nor any of the aforementioned treated me as an afterthought or a burden; you all welcomed me to the court and you did far more than was necessary to accommodate me. Once again, I thank you, and I hope I will never forget to make time for potentially insignificant people if and when I ever don judicial
Aside from gathering a more complete understanding of the lesser-known elements of judging—a worthwhile exercise in itself—I watched you bring a refreshing dose of human-to-human common sense to an otherwise strictly procedural (and thereby artificial) process. You reminded me that judging, like most careers, is, first and foremost, about people. Of course, the term “people” to which I refer includes plaintiffs and defendants, but “people” also includes attorneys, witnesses, court marshals, “minute clerks,” the public, law clerks, and, of course, judges. So, when I observed your pre- and post-trial conferences with the attorneys and watched you mediate the parties’ claims with painless and efficient level-headedness, and when you allowed the submission of potentially superfluous evidence in order to “get it right,” and when you treated all members of your courtroom—including occasionally fumbling advocates and alleged criminals—with impeccable dignity, I was reminded …show more content…
Please also thank your law clerk, Mrs. Parzych, and your secretary, Mrs. Bingel, for welcoming me to your chambers, for their helpfulness, and for their flexibility throughout the day. Neither you nor any of the aforementioned treated me as an afterthought or a burden; you all welcomed me to the court and you did far more than was necessary to accommodate me. Once again, I thank you, and I hope I will never forget to make time for potentially insignificant people if and when I ever don judicial