From yesterday’s New York Times, a humanizing story about Ann Pfau, who had been “New York State’s chief administrative judge, a bureaucratic job that is like being the queen of the courts.”
Judge Pfau is herself now on the bench, trying cases. William Glaberson, an excellent NYT legal reporter, tells us about Judge Pfau’s current life in, “At 64, a Longtime Judge Receives a Crash Course on the Ways of the Bench.”
Glaberson begins: “Some thoughts on how to be a judge: Do not think you are as funny as the lawyers say you are. Sit up straight on the bench. Get the keys to your chambers.”
Heartwarming and amusing stuff. When you as a plaintiff go into your courtroom, up there on the bench is a pretty awesome figure. The Judge. Your Judge. So it’s nice to understand that judges are, like us, real people, with pretty sharp opinions about the behavior of some lawyers who appear before them.