Even if you’ve never stepped foot in a Brooklyn courtroom, it’s likely you’ve seen the face of Judge Robin Sheares at least once.
Known around the borough as the “Community Judge”, Judge Sheares prides herself on her ceaseless efforts to get to know her constituents. Judge Sheares works tirelessly to get herself acquainted with the people of Brooklyn, by participating in countless community outreach programs and by practicing a style of judging that involves far more listening than speaking.
At an early age, Sheares knew what she wanted to be. When she was eight years old, she witnessed a landlord tenant dispute that was settled in court, and was displeased by the way the judge treated the litigants.
“The judge was not listening to the people,” said Sheares. “He wasn’t hearing, he wasn’t listening, so [the litigants] weren’t getting an opportunity to tell their side of the story.”
Sheares decided she wanted to be a judge, and she vowed to be a more open and understanding justice than the one she witnessed that day.
“I treat everybody fairly,” says Judge Sheares. “It could be a corporate person, or it could be a person who’s self-represented, but either way, I’m going to hear what everybody has to say.”
After graduating from Brooklyn Technical High School, Sheares continued her education at Ithaca College in Ithaca, New York where she received her Bachelor of Arts in Political Science. Years later, she earned a Juris Doctor degree from St. John’s University of Law, and in 1986, she passed the New York State Bar Exam.
Upon receiving her law degree, Sheares found work as a court attorney, assisting judges on legal matters regarding landlord tenant laws. During this time, she also worked on Dunaway hearings, which are hearings conducted to determine whether the evidence used in a case was obtained from an illegal arrest.
Sheares continued to work as a court attorney for nearly twenty years, before deciding to start running for Civil Court Judge. After two unsuccessful campaigns, she was elected in 2007, becoming the Honorable Judge Robin K. Sheares.
Today, Judge Robin Sheares is an acting member of the New York City Civil Court of Kings County, and she presides over both civil and criminal cases. Soft-spoken and laconic, Judge Sheares sports a judging style defined by compassion, honesty, patience, and an insistence on hearing out each side before arriving at a decision.
“If someone’s nervous, I will tell them, ‘take a ten’, as if they were inviting me into their own home,” says Sheares. “I tell them to take their time, so the case will be recalled, and by that time they can get it together.”
In Brooklyn, Judge Sheares is renowned for more than just her work inside the legal sphere. She has received multiple awards for her service to the community, and is affectionately known as the “Community Judge” for her myriad activities outside of the courtroom. For instance, she plays an active role in “Meet the Judges”, an ongoing community outreach program in Brooklyn that had several judges from across the borough introduce themselves to attendees and teach them the basics of the local court system.
By her account, her litigants often recognize her from the various community events she’s taken part in.
“In October, I participate in the Brownstone’s Annual Bedford-Stuyvesant House Tour, and people come to the houses, and [my litigants] inevitably remember me from that,” says Judge Sheares.
Her most recent accomplishment is preventing the shutdown of the Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP) at her workplace, after the woman in charge of the program passed away.
“Upon her passing, there was nobody left to take the realm,” says Judge Sheares. “So myself, Justice Dowling, Clerk Roderick Randall, Leah Richardson from I.T., and some other people from the court… we got together, and we did all that we could until someone new was hired.”
To Judge Sheares, her work as a community leader and her work as a judge go hand-in-hand. By acquainting herself with her constituents outside the courtroom, she lets them feel more comfortable, self-assured, and capable of presenting their arguments inside the courtroom.
“We go out to the community [to educate people] so people will already know, before they come in, the various courts and how to handle them,” said Judge Sheares. “Once you leave my courtroom there will be a winner and there will be a loser, but I want everybody to know that I gave them their day in court.”
