Lloyd Zimmerman is a District Court Judge in Hennepin County Minnesota. He has served on the bench since 2000. He is the son of a judge, but before you think of the caricature of some stern cold or detached jurist, Lloyd Zimmerman is decidedly not that type of judge. Lloyd is insightful and caring. Everyone who knows him sees that right away. He has a piece in the New York Times well worth reading. This article  can be an inspiration for all judges. It is entitled 

Making a Judgment on Love

By LLOYD ZIMMERMAN

THE call came around 3:30 p.m. on a sultry Minnesota day. The hospice social worker, Cheryl, explained the situation in a rush. She had tried 15 judges, and all were either in court or otherwise unavailable. By chance, she had reached me directly.

I had just finished a tough trial and was in my chambers surrounded by judicial detritus: legal briefs, scores of exhibits. This was the sanctuary where I went to nurse my wounds after a day of inhaling other people’s problems: name-calling; failed relationships; poor judgments made by people sometimes young, sometimes old, usually emotional. To be honest, I almost didn’t answer the phone.

The protracted and petty legal combat I had just suffered through was a case that should have been settled but for bad blood in a family relationship. I’d survived, presiding over a trial that was neither great nor good. It was done, but it was not my proudest moment as a judge. My day of emergencies had followed weeks of emergencies that had not been broken up by a vacation. I felt like putting one of those bumper stickers on my door that read: “Your poor planning is not my emergency.”

All I wanted was a drink.

That, however, would be considered poor decorum for a judge, and judges lose their jobs over poor decorum. I have a wife and two children. So I tried to shake off my grumpiness and be civil to Cheryl. I asked in my calmest, most Oliver Wendell Holmes voice what I could do for her.

She said she needed a judge to perform an emergency wedding.   The full piece can be found  on line at  http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/23/fashion/making-a-judgment-on-love-modern-love.html?_r=1&ref=style