It was HOT!

It was hot. Really hot. And my car didn’t have air conditioning. Yet this young lawyer was undeterred. I had overbooked my morning, back in July of 1985, with a “5-min calendar” domestic case at 9 a.m. in DeKalb Superior Court in Decatur and a contested bankruptcy hearing at 11:30 a.m. in downtown Atlanta. Only 10 miles apart, should be no problem. Reminder, no one had cell phones back then.

At 9:00 sharp the DeKalb judge took the bench. My case got called about 9:45, so all was good. A “5-min” calendar means both sides get, yep, five minutes. As we sat at the table, my opposing counsel, a sister of Methuselah, announced that she couldn’t possibly argue this complex case in five minutes. The judge told her she could take as long as she wanted. To be fair, she was a historic figure in Decatur and had been practicing law since the Revolutionary War, so she received a lot of deference from judges. But she agreed to the 5-minute calendar, too. I asked the judge for a few minutes to call my office so I could notify the other court I might be late. The judge denied my request and told me, and everyone, that he was tired of lawyers booking so many courts in a day. He told me to sit down and proceed with my case.

We got done about noon! I thanked the judge and headed out. Inside my car it was 120 degrees, but off I went to bankruptcy court. I raced downtown, parked, and jogged through security. I rushed into the courtroom, and a calendar clerk was in the courtroom and told me she would let the judge know I had arrived, and my clients were at a table. They told me the judge was angry. I had never faced an angry judge before, and this was my second of the day! Opposing counsel came in, and I went over and shook his hand. He warned me he had never seen a judge so angry. Uh oh.

When Chief Judge Kahn came in, we all rose. He said for everyone to have a seat, EXCEPT Mr. Burke. For the next eternity he chewed me out. Never asked me what happened, but turns out his office had called my office, so he undoubtedly knew. I was hot. Exhausted. Scared. But all I could think was, don’t pass out! I kept repeating that to myself. I reasoned that it’d be really embarrassing to pass out. So I’m sure Judge Kahn was lecturing me about professionalism, respect for the court, office time management, whatever, yet I heard not a single word! I just didn’t want to pass out. He probably ran out of words to say, and he announced that the lecture was finished. 

I argued my motion and he ruled in my favor. I appeared in his courtroom many times after that, and he was always very cordial. Mostly, he knew my name. And while I was never close to being late again, I also never told him I didn’t hear his well-deserved lecture. Unfortunately he passed away in 2002 so he never knew what happened. But it didn’t matter. He was right, and I was in the wrong.

I learned my lesson and I’ve never been late to court again. Did I mention it was hot?

Kelly Burke was born in Knoxville where he spent his younger years, followed by high school years in Atlanta where he graduated from Georgia Tech. He then graduated from Mercer Law School. He has been in private practice, a magistrate judge, and an elected district attorney. He writes about the law, politics, music and Ireland. He and his wife enjoy gardening, playing with their Lagotto Ramanolo named George Harrison, and spending time with their grandchildren.