That’s the theme of this profile of attorney John Nazzaro, who went from being a lawyer to being a judge to being a lawyer again.
A preview:
If there’s one lesson to take from Judge John Nazzaro’s 10-year run hearing criminal and civil cases, it’s this: expect the unexpected.
Conservatives hailed him as a champion of the Second Amendment one day, then criticized him the next for approving diversion programs for drug users. Liberals approved when he released incarcerated persons who “sincerely wanted to address their issues,” but balked when he set high bonds on offenders charged with re-violating a protective order.
“I ran into so much resistance from so many interest groups for what I felt were appropriate dispositions,” says Nazzaro, 64, who is Connecticut’s second judge of Asian Pacific descent. “Politics had nothing to do with my decision-making process. As a judge, I tried to do what was correct under the circumstances before me, devoid of political fallout. I made everyone mad.”
Another unexpected decision by Nazzaro? Returning to civil litigation after a decade on the bench.
“Most judges that leave—90 percent of them—if they return to any form of practice, it’s mediation and alternative dispute resolution,” says Kelly Reardon, managing partner of The Reardon Law Firm, which Nazzaro joined as partner in 2018. “He didn’t really want to do that. He wanted to get back in the trenches.”
Reardon says Nazzaro has a renewed energy about him now. The judicial stint allowed him to recharge his batteries, spending more time with his family. But he had his reasons for leaving the bench. One was financial: “I took a six-figure reduction in pay to be a jurist,” he says.” The other: He just likes being a lawyer.
“It’s fun. Yes, fun. Sometimes, it’s life changing. I just secured a million dollars for a 28-year-old seriously injured in an auto accident. He was breathless in my office signing the settlement papers last week,” Nazzaro says. “I’m glad my clients benefit from my 42 years of experience in the law as an investigator, prosecutor, lawyer, judge, then lawyer again.”
Full article here.