Each year the Massachusetts Judges Conference gives judicial excellence awards to judges in the different court departments.  One of this year’s recipients was the Honorable Judith Fabricant.  Judge Fabricant sits on the Superior Court bench in Boston.  Her remarks, although brief, are worth sharing:

On Judicial Excellence

Remarks by Hon. Judith Fabricant at the Massachusetts Judges Conference Judicial Excellence Awards Dinner, Thursday November 14, 2013

Thank you so much, Kim, for those very kind remarks, and thank you all very much for this award.   I can’t think of a group of people in my professional life whose esteem I value more highly than the people in this room.

I would like to comment very briefly on the concept of judicial excellence.  We tend to think of excellence as the quality of a single judge – something each of us tries to achieve as we sit alone in our courtrooms, or writing in our lobbies.  All of that is true.

But I think judicial excellence is also a communal endeavor – something we strive for together, and something we achieve, if we do, together.   I would suggest that judicial excellence depends on our joint efforts – we cannot achieve it individually.  If our court system as a whole provides quality justice to the public, then we all succeed in serving our mission, and we all can be justifiably proud.  If not, if we have pockets of excellence but a pattern of inconsistency, then the public does not receive what it expects and is due, and that reflects on all of us.

We achieve excellence together, I suggest, by sharing with each other: by sharing whatever expertise we have developed; by giving our time to offer educational programs; by mentoring new colleagues; by consulting with each other on difficult problems; by offering support when any of us is under attack, and by working together to improve the administration of our court system.

I have benefited enormously from the mentoring and support of a long list of judges, many of whom are here tonight.  I have tried to pass that on to others, and I will continue to try to do that.  If I have any success in that effort, the best I could hope for in return would be that those I have shared with will in turn share with others, to the end that the Massachusetts judiciary may achieve excellence together.

Thank you again for this great honor.