his week The Recorder is giving San Francisco's judicial candidates an opportunity to speak to our readers in their own words. Today we present Susan Lew, who is running against Gail Dekreon and Sean Connolly for seat No. 10, which is being vacated by Judge Douglas Munson.
Recorder: Why should the voters choose you in this race?
Susan Lew: The reason the voters should choose me is because I have the judicial experience, as judge pro tem for Alameda Superior Court and San Francisco Superior Court for five years, as well as knowledge of the law and issues of cases which pend before the San Francisco Superior Court, as the court staff attorney in San Francisco Superior Court for over 12 years.
Most importantly, I also have extensive community involvement with our diverse community in San Francisco. I've worked with the elderly, the children in our community, as well as with survivors of domestic violence. ... I've supported causes to prevent AIDS. I've delivered meals for Project Open Hand. I'm very involved with the people of San Francisco.
There's also another aspect, and that is that after 16 years of governor appointments, there's very little diversity on the San Francisco bench. And as the only woman candidate of color who is seeking an open seat for judge, I think it's important that we try to maintain the diversity to reflect our rich fabric of society and diversity in San Francisco.
The elder judges of color who are currently on the bench are close to retiring, or they may seek another judicial seat through elevation. And when that happens there will be very little ... diversity on the San Francisco bench.
Recorder: Can you tell us about your job as court staff attorney?
Lew: I work with the law and motion department. I also am subject to assignments from trial courts as well. ... Every day I have two to four calendars. And each of those calendars might be anywhere, like maybe 10 cases per calendar. And I review the case file, the motions, oppositions for each case. I also review the law and analyze the law, to apply the facts of the case to the law. And then I make a recommendation for that case.
And I do that for each case on each calendar. And I have to meet the 3 o'clock deadline, because if I don't brief the judge on all the cases by that deadline, then the parties or the attorneys get an automatic hearing the next morning.
Recorder: It sounds like that job would make you very knowledgeable about the law. But what experience do you have in terms of trying cases, as a lawyer or as a neutral -- ruling on the spot on evidentiary objections?
Lew: Well, before I started with the court I was actually staff attorney [at] San Francisco Neighborhood Legal Assistance [Foundation], where I litigated cases and represented tenants in court. So I do have experience with regards to actually having litigated cases.
Insofar as to being able to make decisions on the spot, I do that every day with the cases with the court. I have to make decisions as to whether a motion is granted or denied, and determine the outcome --
Recorder: But you have time to research the law?
Lew: I have to make the time. You know, I'm really working against deadline. Because sometimes a case can be really complex and, as you know, you can research a case forever if you don't know where to stop. ...
Recorder: And during your time with SFNLAF, how many jury trials would you say you handled?
Lew: As I indicated to [your reporter], it's been over 12 years and I honestly don't remember how many cases that I actually worked. The reason why is because in that particular office, we worked as a collaborative, so I helped people with their jury trials.
I tried actually looking afterwards to see if I could track down the specific cases and case numbers, but I've moved. Because I used to live in the Mission District, and now I'm living in my first home. And I've also tried to track down records through the court, and through San Francisco Neighborhood Legal Assistance. But they've moved twice, their offices, so all their cases are either in storage or destroyed.
Recorder: Do you have just a ballpark recollection of how many -- five, 20?
Lew: No. I did work on a number of cases. Also as judge pro tem, I have worked on cases in terms of trying to resolve the case, and not take matters under submission, because you only have 90 days. I always try to resolve a case as soon as possible, if not that day.
Recorder: Has your pro tem work been in a specific department or area of law?
Lew: I've actually worked in both areas, civil and criminal. In the civil area I've worked on settling cases for unlimited jurisdiction as well as limited jurisdiction cases. I've settled cases for unlawful detainer actions. I have also worked as a pro tem for traffic cases. And that actually is not as pleasant, because people generally tend to be real unhappy with the outcome, because it's all statutory. There's no really gray area that you can try to find a little bit of compassion for somebody who's had a tough break. So I actually love the civil part. Because I see people as human beings. I don't see cases as really black letter law. ...
Recorder: What would you say is the most challenging or difficult part of being a pro tem?
Lew: I think the most difficult part is when people start taking things personally. ...
I had this one case where a daughter was suing her father ... because the whole family was supposed to fly to Los Angeles to attend her wedding. And she waited at the church for two hours for him to walk her down the aisle. He never showed up. So she had another family member walk her down the aisle.
Well, what happened was the father was back at the hotel drunk. No one thought to look for him to see what happened with him. Well, she turned around and sued him for the wedding expenses. The case was before me. And I think some other person might have just said, "All right, Daughter, just give me your receipts and let me see what your father has to pay you to reimburse you for your wedding expenses."
But I actually took a step back, and I looked at the whole picture. And the whole picture was, a family shouldn't be in court suing each other. This is a family which should be trying to resolve this outside of court. And I also didn't want to set a precedent where children would be suing their parents and parents would be suing their children. It's just not appropriate for families to be suing each other in court.
So I actually talked to both of them. I talked to the daughter and the father, and I said, "Life is just too short. You shouldn't be in court. You're a family. You should be outside of court trying to resolve this matter. And pretty soon it's going to be too late to say you're sorry."
And what happened in that case was they actually apologized to each other, which was real heart-warming. Because I felt that I saved a family from being torn apart. Because I think if the daughter tried to execute on a judgment, either by garnishing her father's wages or putting a lien on his house, it would have destroyed the family.
And I think that I showed this compassion or understanding of human nature, where I don't just look at the black letter law and say, "This is a breach-of-contract action, judgment for the daughter." I actually took a step back and I said ... this is a case involving people, involving families. And we should try to keep the family together and not have them have bitter feelings. ...
Recorder: Do you have any people management experience? Do you manage staff?
Lew: I did supervise some externs as well as work with other LRAs, legal research attorneys. ... I would give [the externs] cases and I would supervise them to make sure that they were done properly and on time. Because they weren't always there. Sometimes they'd come two days or three days a week, and I'm there five days a week, if not six or seven.
Recorder: Did you seek an appointment from Gov. Davis, and if so do you have any understanding why you weren't selected?
Lew: I did submit a judicial application for appointment with Gray Davis. I supported him when he was running for governor. I really, honestly, don't know why it's taken so long for him to make his decisions, because he's a very cautious person. And most of his appointments, since he's taken office, have really tended to be, you know, partners in big law firms who've made contributions to his campaign. And, until recently, he's started to make other appointments, because he's running for re-election. But I don't know why other than he's just a very cautious person.
Recorder: A lot of people who are interested in becoming judge apply to the court for a court commissioner job. Did you ever apply?
Lew: Yes.
Recorder: And why do you think you weren't chosen?
Lew: Well, a lot of it's political. And my understanding from my supporters, and from other people, is that it was just a really close vote. Sometimes it happens in life where one strives to advance, and for whatever reason, whether it's political or otherwise, things in life happen. And so, for whatever reason, I came really close to the position I sought. And so that's why I started my judge pro tem work. I do that on my vacation time, not on court time. And I find that very fulfilling. ...
Recorder: Could you name a judge on the San Francisco Superior Court bench that you would try to emulate?
Lew: I think the judges I admire and respect are actually a composite personification of courage, compassion and fairness.
Specifically, I think of the judges I work with, and that would be Lillian Sing, David Garcia, Julie Tang, John Dearman, Carlos Bea, Paul Alvarado, Donald Mitchell, Charlene Mitchell.
These are people who are really good judges in the sense that they are not afraid to speak up for what they think is right. And also, I think they show fairness, the way they deal with people and attorneys who come to court. And those are qualities I would strive to, try to be. ...
Recorder: What do you see as the biggest challenge facing the San Francisco bench?
Lew: When we had the unification of the municipal and the superior court together, there were a lot of overlapping duties. When you're trying to have two entities become one, it's really difficult because it's different procedures. ... Actually, quite a number of people retired rather than have to face that conflict.
One of the biggest challenges we're facing now is the shortage of funding. We actually had to lay off a lot of counter clerks. It was really sad -- temporary people had to be laid off. I think that what the court needs to do is try to find the funding so that we can have the court become more efficient. Because right now what we're having [is] the courtroom clerks taking over what the counter clerks used to do. And so they're doing three to five people's work. And we have no one at the counter to answer questions, just simple procedural questions -- Which paper do I file? Is this the right place? ...
Recorder: Is there something that an individual judge can do to help alleviate that problem?
Lew: I think that what I would do is, I would try to organize volunteers in a program. For instance, there's a constitutional requirement for court interpreters in criminal cases. There's no such constitutional requirement for civil cases. So, for example, in the family law court or domestic violence cases ... if the person is monolingual and doesn't speak English very well, how is he or she able to express to the court, or communicate to the court, of for the court to understand what the abusive situation is?
Because my 25 years of working in community law and public service has always been to be a volunteer as well seek volunteers, I think I would be successful in trying to organize a program where we could have people who are trained to be interpreters. ...
Recorder: How did you come to be involved in La Raza Lawyers of San Francisco and become the group's president?
Lew: I grew up in the Mission. I'm a child of the Mission. ... I went to Sanchez Elementary and Everett Junior High. ... When I was 5 years old, I followed my grandmother everywhere, she practically really raised me. She worked in a garment factory. So what I did was, I followed her to work. And she didn't know how to sew, so what she did was she ironed shirts. And I was too young and too little to do anything like iron shirts, so I would button the shirts that she ironed with my little fingers.
And it's interesting because even at that young age, some of the workers were being cheated out of their wages. And I knew it was wrong for them to be cheated out of their wages. I didn't know what the law was at that age, but I knew it was wrong because they couldn't afford to buy food for their families. So at that young age I wanted to be able to help people. ...
