A Coffee Chat Q&A with Judge James Schurz

Neusha Ghaedi & Mia Villanueva

On June 20th, 2024, Governor Gavin Newsom appointed Judge James Schurz to the Marin County Superior Court. As a practicing attorney, Judge Schurz served in a number of complex commercial and class action civil cases. The Marin County Bar Association is elated to present a Q&A with Judge Schurz as he expands his practice to encompass criminal law and takes on his new role as a judge.   

 

Q: What is your educational background?  

 

A: I earned a bachelor's and a master's degree in European history from Stanford, and I received my JD from Berkeley Law. 

Q: How long did you practice law for before becoming a judge? 

 

A: 35 years. 

 

Q: Why did you choose to become a judge?  

 

A: I've explored serving as a judge for probably the last 10 years, and I suppose it was covid that prompted me to think more strategically about what I needed to do in order to be a strong candidate.  

 

Q: What excites you most about joining the Marin County Superior Court? 

 

A: First off, I'm very impressed with the caliber of judges. Second, I've been impressed with the variety and the creativity of the alternative dispute resolution mechanisms and procedures that the court has—the specialty courts, everything from drug court to the procedures that our Family Law division uses, in providing holistic responses to resolving disputes and caring for families in transition. It's the judges, it's the structure of the court, the way it's organized, and the creativity with which the judges perform their duties. I think the third piece that has really impressed me about practicing as a judge in Marin is the quality of the jury pool. I have heard from visiting judges that Marin enjoys among the very best jury pools, and my experience has borne that out. They're enormously conscientious and thoughtful and take it very seriously. 

 

Q: What advice do you have for aspiring judges?  

 

A: Look for as many trial opportunities as you can secure. The opportunity to work in a range of areas, civil, criminal, and family, is enormously helpful. Then, finding ways to be engaged in the community, the broader legal community, whether that means participating in some of the voluntary programs at the court, serving as a judge pro tem, serving as a discovery master, or serving as a mediator. All of those are meaningful opportunities, and it's both important in terms of service to the court, but it also provides a very helpful perspective in understanding what judicial officers do. 

 

Q: What was your practice area as an attorney?  

 

A: Complex commercial litigation, class actions, and some environmental work and land use.  

 

Q: What was your reaction when you were appointed to the Marin County Superior Court? Walk us through how you found out and what was going through your head at the time. 

 

A: It was the day after our daughter graduated from college, and I was packing up her dorm room and loading the truck with bicycles, furniture, and a range of suitcases when I got the call from Secretary Céspedes. I was thrilled, and the timing of it, with it occurring just the day after our daughter's graduation, also felt like another major milestone for our family. I was very excited, and it proved to be a very emotional week for us as a family.  

 

Q: What has your experience on the Marin County Superior Court been like so far? Is there a particular area of the law that you are most interested in as a judge?  

 

A: In terms of my experience so far, it's been very stimulating and very gratifying. I've been really impressed with the court staff, the clerks, the bailiffs, the research attorneys, the full complement of people who make it possible for us to do our work here. I've also been impressed with the generosity and patience of my colleagues who've been enormously kind and generous in sharing their perspectives and helping me make this transition 

 In terms of is there a particular area of the law that I'm most interested in, I'm interested in everything. I'm doing drug court next week; I've been doing criminal misdemeanor trials; I handle the civil harassment calendar, and I'm finding it all very stimulating and interesting. 

Q: How does it feel going into, for example, the criminal misdemeanor calendar without having practiced criminal law? 

A: It is somewhat daunting. The good news is that whether on the civil side or the criminal side, the rules of evidence, the taking of testimony, and the overall procedures are rooted in a shared set of values and procedures. So, while I have not had the benefit of practicing criminal law in any meaningful way, I have done a lot of trial work, and the examination of witnesses and the application of the rules of evidence feel very familiar, whether they're in a family law context, a criminal law context, or a civil law context. Organizing material and making rulings with respect to the admissibility of evidence is a skill set that cuts across substantive areas. 

 

Q: What courtroom practices do you find the most important? What are your expectations for lawyers inside the courtroom? 

 

A: Punctuality, civility, and preparedness in no particular order. One of the things that's gratifying about practicing in this court is the quality of the lawyers and the rapport with which they interact with one another. There's a very good working relationship between our DA and public defender, and that has enormous benefits for the judges, for the system, and for the community at large. The ability of lawyers to talk to each other and to help frame issues for the judges to decide ends up being enormously important. In terms of civility, I think of it as more than just being polite. It's how does one interact with opposing counsel, and how do you together craft or frame issues for the court to decide. It makes a difference when the parties and counsel have met and conferred on issues and are prepared to focus on those issues that are of greatest importance. The punctuality piece seems kind of like a no brainer, but it makes an enormous difference when, again, you've got all of these court resources that are gathered—having bailiffs, court clerks, translators, and others available, you want to be able to make sure that you're using those resources efficiently and that you're addressing the important work that the court has to do. 

 

Q: What will you miss the most about being a practicing attorney? 

 

A: Being a member of a trial team, particularly larger trial teams that involve experts and legal assistants and may involve more junior lawyers as well as more senior lawyers. Being a part of a team is a very gratifying and stimulating experience.  

 

Q: What's your most memorable or exciting trial that you have had in the past?  

 

A: We had a trial that lasted some 42 days involving coffee, and specifically whether coffee should bear a Prop 65 warning, because it contains a range of compounds that are listed as potential carcinogens. We had a total of 56 clients, everyone from Starbucks and Peets to small roasters. It was a joint defense group that represented, in effect, the coffee industry in California, and it was a wonderful group of people. The argument was: you should put a prop 65 warning on every cup of coffee in California and pay a fine for every cup of coffee that has failed to provide such a warning. The case involved public health experts, epidemiologists, toxicologists, and a range of clients who are in the business of selling coffee in California. It was both interesting, I learned a ton, and we ended up with a sensible resolution. 

Not surprisingly, there are no cancer warnings on coffee. As it turns out, coffee is this paradox in that it contains a range of volatile organic compounds that are caused by roasting. Anytime you roast something, whether it's a vegetable or meat, there's the chance that you're going to create various compounds that may have carcinogenic properties, and so it is for coffee. What's interesting is that coffee has been found to be associated with a protective impact, meaning that coffee drinkers experience a lower risk of certain forms of cancer. Specifically, women experience a lower level of endometrial cancer, and men and women experience a lower level of liver cancer. So, coffee is not only not associated with an increased risk of cancer, but there is evidence that suggests that it may reduce certain cancers.  

 

Q: You have been extremely active in the legal community which occupied much of your time as a lawyer–how did you navigate being both a lawyer and a parent? Where did you draw the line for yourself in terms of both emotional investment and availability? What advice do you have for parents in our legal community? 

 

A: My wife is a clinical psychologist and psychoanalyst, so we talk a lot about issues with child development, and how we can provide a nurturing environment for kids is something that we think a lot about. I don't know that I have any great insight, but I think there are a couple of things that we did that proved to be very helpful. One is that our kids were involved or, I should say, our kids had an understanding of what we did at work. They came to our offices, they met our colleagues, they had a sense of what I did and the people with whom I worked. I think that a more porous boundary that lets your kids know what you're doing during the day and who you're working with, and having them develop relationships with the people you work with makes work less foreign, and I do think that was meaningful for them.  

The second piece is that we made a big commitment for family dinners. We often ate late, but we had dinner together every night. Being together on a regular basis, without screens, and without the distractions, proved to be important for us as a family. 

I think that the third piece is the flip side of the kids having an understanding of what we did in our work lives. We were also involved with their schools and their school life and tried to be, not only just volunteering, but sort of being present within their school environment, knowing their teachers, getting to know their friends, and being a part of their social life independent of our family.  

 

Q: You have served as a Professor and Lecturer at numerous institutions–is there anything that you have gained while teaching that you now apply to your legal practice? 

 

A: Yes, I was a high school teacher before I was a lawyer, and I think teaching is terrific preparation for being a trial lawyer, both in terms of presentation as well as how you engage in a meaningful conversation with people and make information comprehensible and interesting. I frequently look back on my experience as a high school teacher as being really a critical building block in the way I practice law and the way I think about how we communicate with one another. 

I've been an adjunct professor for 24 years at UC Law SF and have really enjoyed working with the law students there. More recently, I've spent the last three years at Stanford Law School and have loved teaching there. I would go back to the fundamentals of are people understanding what you're presenting? Is it accessible? Are you approachable? Are you using language that is designed for people to understand what you're talking about? And, how sensitive are you to understanding people's challenges in understanding what you're trying to get across? I think teaching, and the dynamic of working within a classroom environment, is enormously helpful to the law, because whether as a judge or as a lawyer, it all comes back to how effectively are you communicating. 

 

Q: You are very involved with pro bono work, how has working pro bono affected your perspective on the legal system?  

 

A: Working with the public interest bar and nonprofit legal services providers has increased my sensitivity to the challenge of providing fair and equal access to justice and the broader challenges that a significant number of members of our community are forced to address every day. It has given me an appreciation of the challenges of our legal system and the complexity of challenges that members of our community face every day in terms of income insecurity and the range of issues that people come into court with.  

 

Closing remarks from Judge Schurz:  

I'm a great believer that the justice system is built by strong communities, and one of the things that is encouraging about being a part of the legal community here in Marin is seeing the broad collaboration between the private bar, those who are working in government service, legal aid lawyers, and those who are providing services in the mental health community. What I have heard, and what's been borne out in my limited time here, is that we have something very special here, and it's the product of literally thousands of people. It's really a joy for me to be a part of, and the Bar Association has a significant role to play in realizing the goal of ensuring fair and equal access to justice.