COVER STORY
JUDGE STACY BOULWARE EURIE:
SCBA'S JUDGE OF THE YEAR IS A TIRELESS ADVOCATE FOR CHANGE IN THE JUDICIAL SYSTEM By Judge Christopher Krueger
Judge Christopher Krueger sits in Department 54 of the Sacramento County Superior Court.
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t was an all-too-common scene in juvenile court. A 17 year-old foster girl who had recently had a baby sat before the judge with tears in her eyes, trying not to cry. When Judge Stacy Boulware Eurie asked her what was wrong, the girl indicated that she was overwhelmed by the proceedings. A dependency court judge had previously ordered her to attend parenting classes. Now Boulware Eurie was poised to impose a juvenile justice sentence for a crime the girl had committed. The multiplicity of requirements between the two court’s orders simply overwhelmed the girl. “Judge Boulware Eurie said, ‘I will work with that other judge and we will work it out so you can do this one step at a time,’” recalled Michelle Callejas, Director of the Sacramento County Child, Family and Adult Services Department. Callejas cited the judge’s efforts that day years ago as typical of the kind of problem-solving approach Boulware Eurie employed in the Sacramento County Juvenile Court, where she served as Presiding Judge from 2010 through 2018. “She was compassionate and empathetic and [still] held a firm line.” Boulware Eurie, who is being honored as the SCBA’s 2020 Judge of the Year, has drawn praise from many quarters of our legal community as a skillful judge, a mentor to youth, lawyers and even fellow judges, and as a reformer seeking to improve our judicial system. “She is one of the most talented judges I’ve ever worked with or appeared in front of,” said Sacramento District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert. “Her passion SACRAMENTO LAWYER | Summer 2020 | www.sacbar.org
