By DOM and John Byrne
His retirement party was Friday. We will miss Judge Goodman's wit and humor on the bench. Here's a picture with his clerks and CRDs from the party:
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A big loss for our bench. It was always a joy to be in his courtroom. He was sharp, funny, efficient, and, yes, for a while I hear he had a puppet though, sadly, I missed that era. Going into a hearing with him, you just knew he was going to get it right (which, depending on who you represented, was sometimes good and sometimes bad).
3 comments:
OMG it seems like yesterday he became a judge. Best Wishes. I admire judges that retire and don't hang on to the job like a pope.
I had filed a motion in a criminal case citing the famous scene from Casablanca when Ricks is raided and Captain Renault says "I am shocked, shocked to find there is gambling on these premises" as a casino employee hands him his winnings and Rick shoots the employee a look. Such great acting by Bogart, and a great allegory for a motion. I should have known to be better prepared when the judge sent it to Magistrate Goodman for a hearing. I was prepared for the argument, but alas not Judge Goodman, who entered the courtroom and proceeded to pepper me with a dozen trivia questions about Casablanca. If I recall I got about half right. He brought such and joie de vivre to his work. Why shouldn't a judge include an apt quote of a rock and roll song in an opinion? Why should law be dull and black and white all the time? Why shouldn't a case, an argument, an opinion, have a few splashes of color? That's what Judge Goodman brought to his work, and I loved it. And David is right. He always got it right. I hope he has a great retirement filled with rock and roll and old movies and all the things he loves.
We need more excellent lawyers on the bench. I hope he practices law again so clients can benefit from his wisdom and experience.
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