Authors often advise, "Just start writing. The organization will
come later." But where does one begin writing about a giant in the
legal community?
I clerked for Justice Kent B. Smith at the Massachusetts Appeals
Court from 2000 to 2003. During my fourth year, he helped me get
promoted to my current position at the court. After that, even
though I did not work for him exclusively, he remained a mentor and
a colleague to me until the day he passed away.
To describe how the late Judge Smith was a mentor is a little like
trying to write about how he breathed -- it just was part of who he
was. He always was teaching, always gently instructing, I think he
mentored everyone at the court in one way or another.
Let me elaborate. I often sought out Judge Smith to discuss
professional issues and ask for advice. Aside from providing such
advise, he taught by example. I admired the way he handled the
attorneys at appellate arguments, listening to them, challenging
those that needed it, and, often, rolling his chair back to the
book stacks behind the bench to confirm the holding of a cited
case. Judge Smith would not belittle attorneys who came to the
Appeals Court zealously advocating for their clients, no matter how
strained or excessive the arguments were. He often was one of the
smartest people in the courtroom, though he was far too polite to
act as if he was. His guidance limitless, he also lectured
extensively at judges' conferences, updating the trial judges on
the appellate case law of criminal practice and procedure.
Before his appointment to the Appeals Court, Judge Smith served on
the Superior Court bench. He did not speak with me frequently of
those years, but others have shared with me that he was a kind and
compassionate judge who had an innate ability to defuse tense
situations with his good nature and respectful humor. Lawyers tell
me now that, even in sentencing, Judge Smith could spot those who
merited leniency -- and most of those went on to lead law-abiding
lives after completing their sentences. The anecdotes are decades
old, but they still describe the same Judge Smith that I
knew.
Over the years since I began at the Appeals Court, lawyers who
practice criminal appeals have said that they loved appearing
before Judge Smith because, in their words, "He gets it." To a
judge, there is no better compliment and it suited Judge Smith. I
would reply, "Of course he does," because, of course, he did. He
was Judge Smith. He wrote the book. Literally. His Criminal
Practice and Procedure volumes of the Massachusetts Practice
Series, are, and will continue to be, required reading for criminal
lawyers and a bench book for judges.
Judge Smith still will be a mentor to me, even now that he is only
here in spirit. His passing is not an ending; I could not possibly
forget this gentleman of a judge with an unbounded joy for living
and working. His books sit prominently on my bookshelves, some
pages more dog-eared than others. They are but one reminder of the
judge who decided prominent cases, but also influenced, mentored
and taught his colleagues at the Massachusetts
Appeals Court.