[Editor's note: Joseph W. Bellacosa served the New York Court of Appeals from 1975 to 2000 as chief clerk, counsel, chief administrative judge and associate judge. The Law Journal proudly presents this latest edition in an occasional series in which the retired judge shares reflections from his long tenure in New York's judiciary.]

Becoming a judge of the New York State Court of Appeals was an unimagined, wondrous dream. The flicker started only after I became clerk-counsel for the New York Court of Appeals in 1975. Before that, I had no realistic likelihood that such an opportunity could come my way as I was never involved in politics and viewed my career as on a straight-line academic track.