Friday, September 28, 2012

On Judge Joe Tate

In today's e-mail was a letter circulated to members of the Bristol Virginia Bar, from Judge Tate, indicating that he would retire in January after more than twenty years as General District Court Judge for the 28th District.

When I was a brand new lawyer, Judge Tate came around to the law firm to talk about the judgeship he was then seeking, and I asked him why would he want to be a general district court judge. It was a good thing that he did. He is a delightful, smart man who did a great job for us.

When I got married last year, the first person I saw in downtown Marion the next day was Judge Tate, who was well and truly amused by my answer when he asked how I was doing.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

You left out "Gentleman" in your description of Judge Tate. In that respect, he's part of a vanishing breed of lawyer/judge. Sure, there are plenty of good, honest, polite men and women among today's lawyers and judges, but Judge Tate is/was always at the pinnacle of his profession.
Thanks for your years of service.
You will be missed!