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2003 Cal. Sup. Ct. Hist. Soc'y Newsl. 1 (2003)

handle is hein.journals/casrecths2003 and id is 1 raw text is: IACSU S.4THE CALIFORNIA SUPREME COURT IiHistorical ociet NEWSLETTER - SPRING/SUMMER 2003 A Trailblazer: Reflections on the Character and Career ofJnstice Mildred Lillie BY HON. EARL JOHNSON, JR. Legal giant. Legend. Institution. Trailbla:zer. These are the words the media - and the sources they quoted - have used to describe Presiding Justice Mildred Lillie and her record-setting fifty-five year career as a judge and forty-four years as a Justice on the California Court of Appeal. Those superlatives are all absolutely accurate and richly deserved. I write from a different perspective, however - as a colleague of Justice Lillie for the entire eighteen years she was Presiding Justice of Division Seven. I hope to provide some sense of what it was like to work with a recognized giant, a legend, an institution, a trailblazer. Readers will be disappointed if they are expecting what they typically see in the media. You know the refrain - this revered public figure had a great public persona, and treated those who could help her career with great charm and respect, but was abusive or worse toward those who worked with or under her on a daily basis. Nothing could be further from the truth when it came to Justice Lillie. She was not only revered, but loved, by everyone in Division Seven. This included the Division's staff, not just her fel- low justices. I asked our writ attorney, Pablo Drobny, who worked with her daily for those eighteen years, how they related. He gave an answer others, research attorneys and legal assistants alike, would echo. From the first day I entered Justice Lillie's chambers, I real- ized I was meeting with a legend. And we carried on our discussions that way. But it wasn't long before there was a twinkle in her eye, and frequently a joke to be shared. And from then on I felt I was a friend and not just a writ attorney. Over the years that friendship just grew stronger and stronger. Justice Lillie was devoted to her personal staff - and they to her. Evidence of this can be found in their lengthy tenures with her. They may have had previous jobs with others on and off the court. Yet once they found Justice Lillie they tended to stay until retire- ment. One of her former judicial attorneys, Ann Oustad, was with her over two decades before retiring. Linda Berler had been with her over sixteen years and Pamela McCallum for ten when Justice Lillie passed away. Connie Sullivan was her judicial assistant for some eighteen years before retiring and Olga Hayek served in that role for over a decade before retiring, too. For the many lawyers who saw her only in the courtroom, Justice Lillie could be an imposing, even intimidating figure. But within the Division she was neither intimidating nor autocratic. Instead Justice Lillie led by example. She didn't care how other jus- tices and their staffs did their work or when they did that work. She cared only that they worked - and pro- duced opinions that were on time and of high quality. Hers were always that way. So she set the standard and you felt compelled to do the same. Those who saw her only in the courtroom, or when she delivered one of her many authoritative public speeches, may also be surprised to learn that within Division Seven Justice Lillie always had an open mind toward contrary views. If you drafted a dissent - even in a case where she had written the original majority opinion - you knew she would read and carefully pon- der every word you wrote. Not frequently but more often than any outsider would ever guess, Justice Lillie would change her mind and either sign on to the dis- sent or modify her own opinion to incorporate that view. Understand, I was on the other side sometimes when she rethought a case, although I also experienced some shifts in my favor. But whichever way she ulti- mately decided a close case, I knew it was based on a principled view of the law and I had only the greatest respect for her position. Justice Lillie had a special commitment to colle- N 'SL ETE P1 SPRING./OUMMIII 2003 I

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