Yes, “time flies” – especially when one is engaged in interesting, challenging, and compelling efforts, such as a trial lawyer or a trial court judge. However, there may be something to add: tempus fugit, sed memorias manere.

That is to say: “time flies, but memories abide.”

I had a good friend who, when telling one of his many favorite stories, would preface with: “Hey, if you’ve heard this before, don’t stop me because I want to hear it again.” And so, please allow me a few minutes of your time.

I remember that it was a beautiful autumn morning, September 4, 1974, when I stepped onto the second floor of the Marin County Civic Center. Thus began a twenty-one-year career in the Marin County District Attorney’s Office.

How did I get so lucky? How and why did that time go so quickly? I have no idea.

About six years before that day, in 1968, my wife, Betsy, and I – having successfully finished law school at U.C. Hastings – headed south from wonderful San Francisco to Riverside, where I interned in the District Attorney’s Office. My salary was a then-astounding $500 a month.
We were expecting our first child in March of 1969 and so that seemingly enormous sum would certainly come in pretty handy. Our sweet little girl Jennifer arrived on time and by then I had passed the bar exam and was an honest-to-goodness attorney making an astonishing $750 a month!

Our second sweet daughter Sara was born in November 1973. During the next few years our little family enjoyed the many opportunities for fun, exercise and other enjoyments in Riverside, Palm Springs, nearby beaches and mountains, as well as in the San Diego area.
Life was good in southern California –for a while.

However, we found ourselves becoming dismayed and increasingly worried as we discovered that smog, with annoying frequency, floated unpleasantly and, as it turned out, menacingly, eastward from coastal California into Riverside. We could see clearly – no pun intended – that this atmosphere was not healthy for either of our little girls. We sadly witnessed a direct correlation of smoggy days with Jennifer’s recurring cough and ugly-sounding congestion. Her doctor prescribed a decongestant which did seem to help her in the short term.

But as her condition worsened, the need arose to purchase larger dosages of the drug. Though the amplified medicine helped, we became even more concerned that continued use of it could not be conducive to long term good health. Of course, we also worried that the same chilling scenario would eventually arise with our infant daughter Sara, whose main activities at the time were – happily – eating and sleeping.

So, except for the smog – “yucky,” our Jennifer then called it – we really did enjoy our time in southern California.

Parenthetically, and in fairness to the Southland, during the year I spent conducting homicide trials in Riverside Superior Court in 2007-2008 on assignment by then Chief Justice Ron George, it did seem that the smog had noticeably diminished. Smog was present, but not as thick and ugly as in the early 1970’s.

Coincidentally, and wonderfully, around that worrisome summer of 1974, I happened to see a flyer in the Riverside DA’s lunchroom advertising an opening for a “senior trial attorney” position in the Marin DA’s office. Of course, I was familiar with beautiful Marin, so I sent an application and mentally crossed my fingers. Luckily, I got an interview and by some unexpected miracle, I also got the job.

After our move to Marin, Jennifer had no trouble breathing. Marin’s wonderfully clean air enabled her to become a constant runner on her high school cross country team. Today, an attorney herself, she continues to live and run in the North Bay with her husband and three children. Sara also ran cross country at her high school. A realtor, she now lives and runs near Dallas, Texas with her husband and four children.

In October 1995, Governor Pete Wilson appointed me to the Marin Superior Court. I did not see it coming, but before he could change his mind, I gratefully accepted. I have spent forty-two years in the iconic Marin Civic Center as an attorney and judge. Some have teasingly suggested that my continued presence here over the years may have given me “squatter’s rights” in the building. Probably not.

With very few exceptions, I have been blessed each day to have thoroughly enjoyed the privilege of working here. Those times have sped by at warp speed.
Reportedly, Confucius advised: “Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.” That’s been true for me.

It has been my privilege in those years to confer, meet, and work with my amazing colleagues in the DA’s office, the talented members of the Public Defender’s Office and County Counsel’s Office, the private bar, and of course, the Marin bench.

In the most recent 21 years, as a judge here in Marin, I have had the great privilege of working with some of the most hard-working, ethical, and talented judges and attorneys in the state.
Last but certainly not least, I express my sincere thanks and admiration to all of Marin Superior Court’s staff. In the last decade or so, the court’s budget has been radically reduced, and thus our staff has been reduced. Despite that, these good people have worked tirelessly, professionally, and courageously to serve the local bar, the citizens of Marin, and the court.

I will retire from the Marin Superior Court this October. My remembrances are precious to me, and many of you reading this have had significant roles in those times – and more significantly – in my heart. So many of you in the legal profession here in Marin and environs have impressed me, touched my heartstrings, and made me proud of what we do here.

Thank you for all of that and more. Thanks for the memories: tempus fugit, sed memorias manere.