Retired Judge Agrees Men Are Not Treated Fairly

November 2001

Attorney David Grossack interviewed retired Probate Judge James R. Lawton on his Hull Cable TV show in 1997. Lawton was a probate judge in Plymouth County for 31 years. Lawton answered frankly when asked about bad Probate judges and if men get a fair shake in family court.

Attorney Grossack asked the judge: "When men go through the divorce system they sometimes emerge as if they have post-traumatic stress syndrome. It is like they've been in combat. It comes from dealing with the family service offices and dealing with some of the judges who developed a reputation for favoring women. That is not necessarily present company but in some of the other counties it certainly happened.

"Do you think that men going to divorce court get equal protection of the law?"

Retired Judge Lawton: "Well, I would say that they do not. It isn't necessarily because anything creates the situation other than the basic and historic responsibility of the man in most instances as the primary breadwinner of the family. So the custody usually falls into the hands of the mother. I think that you're right. From what I have seen, there's no question about it. It's a traumatic event for men but it's also a traumatic event for most of the women who are involved in the divorce process.

"I agree with you. There are a great many judges who have developed very bad reputations for the manner in which they address people in the courtroom, for their unwillingness to hear the parties speak out or make a statement to the court as to what their feelings are. Or even to lawyers, who are told to 'shut up' and 'keep quiet' and 'I've heard everything that I want.'

"Those judges not only should be impeached, they should be taken out summarily and assigned to some other duty. There should be an easier and quicker vehicle for impeaching judges who treat the public in that fashion. I think that the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts and the Bar Association and these people have to make up their mind that they're going to become as hostile toward these judges as the judges are hostile toward the people who appear before them, whether they are litigants or lawyers. I agree with you David very, very much."