The beginning

Note the tricky title for this, my last column of the year, and my last column as a member of the California judiciary. I began this journey more than 50 years ago, Sept. 1, Labor Day, when Justice Stanley Mosk swore me in to the Los Angeles Municipal Court. After Dec. 31 of this year, my title, "Presiding Justice," will have "RET" after it. And the title of this column? Will get back to the title in due course.

As I have queried in a previous column, what is so special about 50 or 100? I did not pick my 49th year to retire, too early, and not my 51st year, too late. My compromise is 50 years and four months. It has been a glorious 50 years, and close to 46 years on the Court of Appeal. It is my nature to feel guilty when good things happen to me. This, coupled with my interest in quantum mechanics, has led to my speculation concerning string theory and "multiverses." Hang in there with me; there could be infinite parallel realities that match what we are doing now. My writing this column could be duplicated an infinite number of times. And, likewise, you who are still reading this column may be reading it in an infinite number of multiverses. So, what does this have to do with my guilt? If multiverses are possible, then there could be screw-ups or, if you prefer, cosmic mistakes. Ever received a bill that you already paid? As a result of a cosmic error, there could be Albert Gilbert who was supposed to be here instead of me. I am not saying that is the case, I am just speculating, something judges rarely do when deciding cases. Assuming there is an Albert Gilbert, I wish to say to him, "Albert, I'm sorry; it's not my fault." 

As I look back over my decades on the Court of Appeal, I am reminded that no person, male, female, gay, lesbian, transgender, binary, non-binary, is an island. The bell tolls and I am Donne. With current caseloads, appellate judging is next to impossible without help. Help comes from my colleagues, who I am lucky to cherish as close friends. They are in reverse order of seniority, Justices Tari Cody, Hernaldo Baltodano and Kenneth Yegan. Disagreements over cases do not change anything. It was the same with all our past justices, Steven Stone, Richard Abbe, Steven Perren, Paul Coffee and Martin Tangeman.

My research attorneys, Lauren Nelson, Peter Cooney and Robert Miller, are also colleagues and close friends. They are brilliant researchers and wonderful writers. When I look good, it is because of them. And when I do not look so good, it is usually because I did not follow their advice. We follow, to the best of our ability, the axiom that "brevity is the soul of a good opinion." This quoted phase I attribute to our long-retired writs attorney Will Gorenfeld who has become a noted historian and published articles and books on the West's military history.

And our current writs attorneys, Sharon Gronberg and Sarah Christian, are inciteful and indispensable. Working with them on difficult, problematic writ petitions is pure joy... especially after we think we have figured it out.

Three special women in my life are my wife Barbara, my judicial assistant Bonnie Edwards, and our Division 6 clerk Patricia Silva. Titles are one thing, but "doing" things, more like saving me, is a burden they accept with resolve. Let's take this column for example. When I first began writing it, Barbara was my censor and grammarian. "Are you sure you want to write that?" she would query. The task was too much for one person. Bonnie, who I also admire and adore, joined the ranks. There were those regrettable "whoops" moments when I did not heed their advice. I believe they may have made the job of my Daily Journal editor Diana Bosetti ... easier? I hope so. Diana, thank you for your help and patience. David Houston, stalwart editor in chief of the Daily Journal, has courage.

Our clerk Patricia is the third member of the triumvirate. She makes our clerk's office hum with efficiency and good cheer. She knows all the court rules and is universally loved by all the deputy clerks in our Division 6, the justices and their staff, and the attorneys who appear for oral argument. We are user friendly. She works closely with the Chief Clerk of the Second District Eva McClintock to make Division 6 what it is.

Thanks to Maelen Nakasawa, my second judicial assistant, who is a great help to me and other justices and their research staff. When she graduates law school, watch out! And thanks also to our stalwart deputy clerks Sherry Clayborn, Yalitza Esparza, Adriana Winters and Jasmine Duran; Susan Hill, our librarian who finds the arcane publications we use; Carlos Gutierrez, who took over as tech maven when Marc Thompson recently retired; and my special buddies Refugio Casarez and Jose Angulo. Special thanks to our CHP judicial protection officers.

When Division 6 was first created we had three justices -- then-Presiding Justice Steven Stone, Richard Abbe and me as associate justices. Justice Abbe passed away in 1990. Deputy Attorney General David Glassman regularly appears in our division for oral argument. At his suggestion, we began the Richard Abbe Moot Court Competition where different law schools participate in a moot court competition in our court. Kudos to Glassman for suggesting what became a valuable yearly tradition. We host similar programs for local high schools and universities under the direction of our previous clerk, Paul McGill. A class would receive briefs in a criminal case, would witness oral argument, have a Q&A with the attorneys, after which the justices would resume the bench for a Q&A. Thereafter the class received the filed opinion. Kudos also to McGill.

And our Administrative Presiding Justice (APJ) Elwood Lui has been there since the beginning. We began our judicial careers on the same day in traffic court. He had been sworn in the day before my swearing in. This gave him seniority. He never lets me forget it. Several years later, he left the court and became a partner in an international law firm where he garnered numerous honors. I have written articles about his accomplishments. When he was again appointed to the Court of Appeal, we not only had a first-rate justice, but now I had seniority. Then he became the Administrative Presiding Justice. That trumps seniority. Oh well, he made me his assistant.

And I treasure my continuing friendship with noted criminal defense attorney Robert Schwartz, who appeared before me during my time on the municipal court. Did I mention that this court no longer exists? Bob twice received the Criminal Courts Trial Attorney of the Year Award. Not to worry, he does not practice in the appellate courts.

To refer to my first Daily Journal contribution is a misnomer. It was supposed to be an article about the California's Supreme Court's then prevalent use of "depublication." This is a method to render published Court of Appeal opinions not citable. The ostensible justification: correct result but faulty reasoning. It was no secret I was not fond of depublication. The Daily Journal got wind of my disenchantment and asked me to write a piece about it. In June of 1988 I wrote "It Never Happened." It was not what one would call "traditional fare." From that came the idea, write a "column." I started slowly at first, every other month and then monthly, some 370 columns ago.

And this takes me to the title of this column, "The Beginning." In my first column I referred to the movie "Eraser Head," directed by David Lynch. In this column I refer to the movie "2001" directed by Stanley Kubrick. The end of the movie explains it all. If you haven't seen this monumental cinematic masterpiece and have no intention of trying to see it (your loss), I will reveal the secret of the title. January 2026, the column will continue. Not sure how long. And just think, maybe less constraints.