A Jeopardy! style training session for traffic hearing officers set the stage for a lively exchange last week during a 2024 update on civil traffic infraction case law. The host? None other than retiring Judge Robert W. Lee, who has been presenting the program for the past 15 years. Categories included evidence, procedure, penalties, non-moving violations, moving violations and ethics. Judge Lee is retiring in December after 27 years on the bench. Because the training session would be Judge Lee’s last as a sitting judge, he redid the same presentation he created 15 years ago with 25 new questions. Judge Nina W. DiPietro will assume supervision of this education program in 2025. Thank you Judge Lee for your dedication, expertise and years of service. You will be missed.

Five judges from the 17^th Judicial Circuit along with 22 lawyers from the NE/NW sections of the Broward Bar Association celebrated the service of longtime Judge Louis H. Schiff last week at a networking luncheon in his courtroom at the North Regional Courthouse. Judge Schiff is retiring in December after 28 years on the bench. Turnout was great: Chief Judge Jack Tuter, Judge John Hurley, Judge Steven P. DeLuca, Judge Kim Theresa Mollica and Judge Kenneth A. Gottlieb attended along with Judge Schiff, in addition to a strong showing of lawyers. “I am honored to have served the last 28 years – it’s been the honor of a lifetime,” Schiff said told the group to rousing applause. The event marked the first time in four years the NE/NW sections of the Broward Bar Association was able to hold the networking event in-person. It also marked the last time Judge Schiff would attend the event as a sitting judge. The luncheon was halted during the COVID pandemic. We will miss you Judge Schiff. Much respect for an amazing lifetime of public service!

Judge Florence Taylor Barner has been named judicial liaison to the newly formed Bernice Gaines Dorn Black Women Lawyers Association, which recently held an information session in the law library at the NSU Shepard Broad College of Law. Bernice Gaines Dorn was the first black woman to be admitted to the Florida Bar. The group’s judicial council – the Mary Rudd Robinson Judicial Council – is named after Judge Mary Rudd Robinson, the first black female judge to serve on the bench in Broward County. The pioneering Robinson retired in 2016 after 27 years of service.