Hamilton County General Sessions Court Judge Clarence E. Shattuck, Jr., says a person should do everything in his or her power to stay physically, mentally and spiritually sharp. At 76, he’s a living, breathing testimony to the wisdom of his words.
Consider his admonition to remain physically fit. To keep in shape, Judge Shattuck plays basketball twice a week with the men’s senior team on which he’s a key three-point shooter. These guys don’t just shoot hoops to keep their hearts pumping, though; they play to win: For the last 12 years, they’ve either won or placed second in their age category in the state Senior Olympics. More impressively, they’ve competed in the national tournament four times. In 2011, they placed fifth.
“The teams that beat us did so by a combined total of three points. The team that won the tournament had beaten us by one point,” he says.
Judge Shattuck clearly loves sports. He’s also good at them. While playing basketball at Soddy Daisy High School, he made several All City, District, State and Regional teams and was the leading scorer in the city. He also played baseball at Soddy Daisy.
Upon returning to Chattanooga after law school, he picked up handball, a precursor to racquetball. Over the course of several years, he became accustomed to placing first in tournaments. He continued his winning ways after he picked up racquetball, taking home the top honors in several local tournaments and three state Senior Olympics.
Through it all, Judge Shattuck never put down the basketball he was born holding in one hand.
In his other hand, he’d held the gavel he’d someday wield.
“My dad ingrained an interest in the law in me. He’d tell me stories about his Uncle Norman, who practiced law in LaFayette. He’d visit his uncle, and his uncle would take him to court. My dad never pushed me to go to law school, but his stories stayed with me,” Judge Shattuck says.
Shattuck declared his decision to pursue a career in law during his freshman year at Tennessee Technological University, where he studied accounting. He could have gone on to law school after three years of undergraduate work, but he chose to complete his accounting degree so he’d have something on which to fall back in case the law was not for him.
Fortunately, the law was for him, not only because of his intellect but also because he had a heart for the people it served.
“I wanted a general practice. While growing up on the north end of the county, there were many times when someone needed a lawyer, and I looked forward to helping people like that,” Judge Shattuck says.
When Shattuck graduated from the University of Tennessee Law School in 1960, he returned home and began looking for work. He interviewed with a number of “lawyer firms,” as he calls them, but he didn’t care for how they played down the notion of him bringing in his own clients. So, he went with a small, independent firm: Kelley & DiRisio.
After the residents of Chattanooga elected Kelley mayor in 1963, Shattuck teamed up with Samuel Payne. The two of them practiced together until 1974, when Payne became Judge Payne. (Judge Shattuck’s friend is now the Honorable Reverend Sam Payne.) Determined to keep his practice small and independent, Shattuck joined forces with Ronald Durby.
In 1982, Judge Raulston Schoolfield ran for re-election to General Sessions Court and won, but then passed away a few months later. The Hamilton County Commission appointed Shattuck to take his place. In 1984, Judge Shattuck ran for the remainder of the term and won. Every eight years since then, the residents of Hamilton County have given him their blessing to continue his work on the bench.
“People ask me how I can put up with the same cases every day. I tell them they’re not the same cases because everyone is different. The charges might be the same, but the individuals are unique,” he says.
In addition to following the rules for judges, Judge Shattuck adheres to a few personal guidelines. He says every person who stands before his bench is entitled to an opportunity to present his or her defense, and he tries to afford them the chance. He also tries to be “fair and impartial,” which he says he swore to do.
Judge Shattuck does not, however, allow anyone to take advantage of his kindness. “I tell people I’m not Judge Judy. The rules of evidence are the same as if we had a jury sitting in the courtroom, which can place a person at a disadvantage. While I can educate a plaintiff or defendant who’s not presenting his or her case correctly, I can’t be his or her lawyer,” he says.
Despite seeing many of the same people pass through his court over the years, Judge Shattuck has patiently stuck to his personal code of conduct. Sometimes, this has meant handing down a stiffer sentence than the one for which the defendant was hoping, but in many of those cases, that paid off in the long run.
“I can hardy go into a public place and someone doesn’t come up to me and say they were in front of me 15 years ago, and 12 years ago and seven years ago, but I taught them a lesson and they haven’t been in trouble since. That’s the most satisfying part of this job. It makes me feel as though I’ve accomplished something,” he says.
If 52 years of practicing law have kept Judge Shattuck mentally alert, then teaching Sunday school at Hixson United Methodist Church for 17 years has kept him spiritually tuned in. In addition to serving in various other capacities at his church, Judge Shattuck over the years has given his time to the Chattanooga Jaycees, the Boy Scouts of America, STARS, Teen Challenge, the Transformation Project and numerous Parent Teacher Associations.
Serving his profession has been equally important. Judge Shattuck supported the movement in the ‘90s to convince the residents of Hamilton County to approve the addition of two General Sessions Court judges, and he’s presently serving as a board member of the Criminal Justice Advisory Committee. Also, while Shattuck was a lawyer, he did a considerable amount of pro bono work.
While basketball, work and church have kept Judge Shattuck physically, mentally and spiritually sharp, his family has kept him on his toes. He met his wife, Ruth, at UT Knoxville in the ‘50s. Last year, they celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. They’ve had four children, including three sons and a daughter who died “in a freak home accident when she was 18 months old.”
One can still hear a hint of grief in Shattuck’s voice when he mentions his daughter, but he recovers and speaks proudly of his three sons: Clarence III, an accountant working in Cleveland, Tenn.; Paul, a medical doctor in residency in a Chicago hospital; and Mark, who has a Ph.D. in mathematics and is doing research in the field of combinatorics.
“I asked him what the practical application of combinatorics was, and he said none, because it’s theoretical, but he also told me to think about how geometry was once nothing more than theory,” he says.
Judge Shattuck was once nothing more than a twinkle in his father’s eye. Now he’s 76, making him the oldest judge at the courthouse “both chronologically and in terms of seniority,” he jokes. But that doesn’t mean he’s close to stopping. He’ll be up for re-election in 2014, and between now and then, will decide if he’s going to run.
“People are encouraging me to run, and I’m leaning in that direction, but I have to think of my age. I feel good now, but that can change overnight,” he says.
Whether or not Judge Shattuck runs for another eight-year term, he’s already made an indelible mark on the city of Chattanooga during his 30 years on the bench by dispensing justice with a fair hand and using his words to change lives for the better. Even so, he projects a sense of not quite being done – of wanting to help more people find a better way to live.
“You never know when you’ve said something to someone that’s clicked. I wish I knew what to say to each person,” he says.
Judge Shattuck doesn’t have to speak for people to understand what it means to live a meaningful life. He’s a living, breathing testimony.