I was privileged to serve as a law clerk to Second Circuit Judge Joseph M. McLaughlin from 1991 to 1992. Along with the 60 men and women who had the good fortune to begin their legal careers as JMcL law clerks, I refer to Judge McLaughlin when I use the words "the Judge." Permit me to share some memories.
I first met the Judge on March 19, 1990, just after St. Patrick's Day. That was a sacred day, as he held a reunion of his clerks and former colleagues at Fordham Law School to share Irish-American conviviality. I was ushered into his chambers, where the air was redolent with smoke from his ever-present Macanudo, and admired his parents' immigration papers hanging inside the doorway. After we spent an hour on topics ranging from our Irish roots to classical music to the rules of evidence, the Judge pronounced in his gravelly baritone that I was "smart, had a good sense of humor, and would obviously have an easy life."
