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Judge Harold U. Johnson served for twenty years as a Judge of the Family Division of New Jersey Superior Court. For the last seven years of his judgeship, Hal served as the Presiding Family Judge of three New Jersey Counties, overseeing all the Family judges serving there. He taught those judges and Family judges throughout the State of New Jersey. In New Jersey, a new judge receives significant training in the case type to which they are originally assigned, sitting for weeks observing other judges experienced in the case type. They also are required to attend mandatory, intense two-week classroom training in their case type as to handling cases; this course is called “Judicial Orientation” or, with tongue in cheek, “Baby Judge’s School.” Judge Johnson taught hundreds of classes in “Baby Judge’s School,” including the “leadoff” course in Family, “Dynamics of Family Law” (which included implicit bias training, handling self-represented litigants, and hiring of law clerks), Beginning and Advanced Alimony, and a course entitled “Dissolution Dilemmas” (advanced equitable distribution and child support).
In addition, Judge Johnson regularly taught an Advanced Evidence course; How to Expeditiously Handle a Domestic Violence List, Hidden Impacts of Family Law Cases, Analyzing Federal and State Income Tax Returns, Emergent Duty and Special Domestic Violence Cases, and ZOOM Hearings 101. Judge Johnson also worked with other judges to update and modify the courses in “Baby Judge’s School.” As stated in the introduction, this book is all the “learning points” in the New Jersey initial judicial training reduced to “stories,” called “scenarios,” with answers as to what the Author would judicially do in that scenario/story, and finally as to each scenario the “emotions” of the individuals involved in that scenario.
The Author’s observation has been that “stories,” or as often called “War Stories,” make the important lessons judges must learn to do Family cases properly for the children and families involved easier to understand. They provide context to the issues as compared to “multi-issue” slides that often lose “students,” even judicial students, by point two or three of a “10-point slide,” thereby often losing the points in slides 4 to 10. Stories, with more ad-lib “stories” or amusing periodic observations to allow the mind to have a small break between points, work better than those “multi-point slides.” It is hoped you will agree.