Introduction to the honorable Hugh R. Jones sixth memorial lecture.

• Author: Kaye, Judith S.
• Position: LECTURE

Dean Alexander Moot Courtroom

Albany Law School

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

5:00 p.m.

For many reasons, the Judge Hugh R. Jones Memorial Lecture is a very special event for me, and I might say for my Court of Appeals colleagues as well (all of whom are present at this event). It's our chance to say thank you to the Fund for Modern Courts for its assistance in so many ways, and it brings us to Albany Law School, which has become a genuine alma mater not just for Judge Graffeo but for all of us. Indeed, this has been a family affair in another sense, with your five very honorable Hugh R. Jones lecturers: Court of Appeals Judges Richard C. Wesley, Howard A. Levine, Richard D. Simons, Stewart F. Hancock, and Joseph W. Bellacosa.

For me, the occasion offers the additional delight of officially remembering another beloved former colleague, Judge Hugh R. Jones.

Not long ago in my New York City Chambers, as I picked one of my favorite writing pads out of a stack in a closet, a small pink card fluttered to the ground. It was in Judge Jones's unmistakable, bold, distinctive, free-flowing penmanship, with this message: "I was here--you weren't!!!! Hugh." Pretty eerie, since Judge Jones died on March 3, 2001, nearly seven years ago. Fortunately, the card was dated--always Judge Jones dated his correspondence precisely, as he was exact in everything he did--"2/4/93, 12:25 pm." What a relief!

Well, in truth, Hugh R. Jones is with me a lot. He was among my first greeters to the Court of Appeals a mere twenty-four years ago. His greeting, his lessons, his friendship, for me, are forever memorable. As he was quick to assure me back then, we were the only two who had not come up through the "black shroud" of prior judicial service--Judge Smith has since joined our elite club--and I was thrilled by any parallel Judge Jones saw between the two of us. Over the next year and a half, beginning with breakfast over blueberry muffins in the Court's Red Room every Session morning (along with Judges Jasen, Meyer, and Simons), I learned so much about our extraordinary craft from a master of appellate decision-making.

But instead of talking about myself, I'd like to spend a few moments on the parallels between Judge Jones and our 2007 Jones Lecturer, Richard Bartlett. Both had a somewhat misguided youth, having graduated from the Harvard Law School. But they recovered admirably. Both served their country in the military-Judge Jones as a Lieutenant Commander in the Navy...