My choice of career was made early-I decided I wanted to be a lawyer from the time I, as a young boy, started reading Erle Stanley Gardner’s “Perry Mason” stories. ![]() She never faltered in insisting that we get the education that she was denied. She had little formal education, perhaps third grade, but she had a strong work ethic and an iron determination that her children were going to make something of themselves. My mother grew up on a farm in North Carolina and had been a share-cropper before she moved to Baltimore with my brothers and me. Like most of us, the first major influence in my life was my mother. I think that if I offer some personal history, it may provide some insight into a professional life dedicated, hopefully, to these principles. They, which continue to guide the work of the Maryland Judiciary, include fuller access to justice improved case expedition and timeliness equality, fairness, and integrity in the judicial process branch independence and accountability and restored public trust and confidence. The initiatives and programs presented in this article reflect a set of fundamental guiding principles that I adopted as I began my service as chief judge in 1996. This is difficult for me-while there have indeed been strides taken and goals achieved, they are the accomplishments of many, many dedicated professionals in the third branch of government, serving the public, rather than of any one individual. Maryland judges must retire at age 70, and, as I near the predetermined end of my judicial tenure, I have been asked to provide personal reflections about my time as chief judge and chronicle some of “my” achievements.
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