Editorial
Front Page - Friday, January 22, 2010
Magistrate judge shares the story of her journey to the bench
David Laprad
Some people don’t like change. Once they’re in a comfortable place, they like to stay there. The life and career of United States Magistrate Judge Susan Lee, however, can serve as an example of the good things that can happen when someone embraces change, even when it goes against the grain of his, or her, nature.
Lee spent the greater part of her early years in Alpharetta, Ga., where she lived on a farm with her family and attended school. At the time, Alpharetta was a long way from becoming the active community it is today, as its traffic system consisted of one blinking yellow light. “I’d like to call it a one-stop town, but really, it was a no-stop town,” she says. “I don’t recognize anything when I go home.”
While the slothful pace of life in a small rural community might not have nurtured an appreciation for change in Lee, her parents prepared her for the day they’d nudge her out of the nest. “I was one of seven kids, and my parents always said we’d all go to school and pay for it ourselves, and that’s what we did,” she says.
After graduating early from high school, Lee enrolled at the University of Georgia, where she earned a degree in journalism while working as a waitress at a Holiday Inn. She enjoyed being in school, so when she learned she’d have to take a pay cut to work as a reporter, she signed up for an MBA program at her alma mater. “I’m not big on change, and that allowed me to defer the payments on my school loans and continue working as a waitress,” she says, a smile crossing her face.
Lee then found out about a program that combined the MBA program with law school. She says she enlisted not because she’d always had a desire to be a lawyer, but because it’d allow her to stay in school four more years.
While law school kept Lee in her safe zone a little while longer, in 1985, she accepted the inevitable and graduated. She says she had good timing, though, as she completed her education at a time when law firms were snapping up young lawyers like they were on holiday clearance. Although the law firm that grabbed Lee is no longer in existence, at the time, it was the fifth largest practice in Atlanta.
It was a step forward professionally, but Lee was still resisting change in her personal life. “My law school boyfriend, who’d taken a job at Miller & Martin in Chattanooga, didn’t want to live in Atlanta. We both held out for a few years,” she says, “but I eventually moved here and we got married.”
The change allowed Lee to settle into a new groove at what’s now Grant, Konvalinka & Harrison, where she worked until 2004. Although she didn’t specialize at the firm, she did do a considerable amount of commercial litigation, employment work and environmental law.
Lee says she loved being a lawyer. “You learn something new every day. One day, you’re learning about how labels go on shirts, and the next, you’re trying to figure out who polluted a creek during World War II. I’ve worked on some interesting cases,” she says.
She also liked the people with whom she worked, which made it even easier to stay where she was. Eventually, however, Lee turned down a different path.
In 2004, the U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Tennessee – was, in a word, overwhelmed. To lighten the load of the district’s judges, Congress created several magistrate judge positions. Lee saw the job as a way to do public service and, at the encouragement of friends, applied. After an exhaustive selection process, the judges of the district appointed her to an eight-year term.
In the years since her appointment, Lee has enjoyed serving on the bench. She relishes the challenge of handing down fair, neutral decisions in civil cases, and making each criminal suspect who appears before her feel as though she’s giving his case sufficient weight, no matter how minor the offense. Lee also likes how the court is designed to help people, even if they don’t all leave happy.
“A lot of our work involves civil disputes, in which there’s going to be a winner and a loser,” she says. “That’s why I favor mediation. It lets the parties fashion a remedy that isn’t a win or lose situation.”
Lee does struggle with the isolation that comes with being a judge. “You’re prohibited from engaging in any sort of political activity, as you can’t be involved in groups or issues that might come before the court. You can’t even have a bumper sticker on your car.
“Plus, your relationships with lawyers are more circumspect, so you tend to form friendships within the court,” she says, adding that she’s taken great pleasure in getting to know the other judges in the building.
One secondary activity in which Lee can engage is a project she started with the Federal Bar Association before she became a judge: giving students tours through the federal courthouse to teach them about what takes place within its walls. She says the experience can have a big impact on a young person.
“When my son’s third grade class came through, a man was standing before a judge, explaining why he’d done what he’d done and how he wouldn’t do it again, and his mother was in the courtroom, crying.
“That helped those kids realize doing drugs can hurt not only yourself but also the people who love you. When my son was older and we were talking about drugs in high school, he remembered that experience.”
Lee says the tours also shatter the myth that people who sell drugs have lots of money, girlfriends and fancy cars. She also explains to the girls who pass through that it’s important to make wise relationship choices and not make bad decisions because they’ve fallen in love with someone engaged in criminal behavior.
Like many judges, Lee strikes a healthy balance between work and family. Married with two sons, she’s active in church and enjoys waterskiing, boating, hiking and riding a tandem bicycle with her husband.
What does the future hold for Lee beyond the completion of her first term as magistrate judge? As Heraclitus said, the only thing constant is change, so whatever she does, she’s proven she can not only adjust to new circumstances but thrive in them as well.
Schools or senior groups interested in touring the federal court building can contact
the clerk’s office at 423-752-5200. Funds might be available to assist schools with travel expenses.
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