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LASC Judge Robert J. Schuit to Retire June 20
By a MetNews Staff Writer
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Robert J. Schuit is readying for retirement—and said yesterday he plans to savor it.
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Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Robert J. Schuit is seen with his bride, Patricia King, on their honeymoon in Holland.
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The jurist told the METNEWS:
“I recently met the woman of my dreams, fell in love and got married. I could have retired a few years ago. or could easily have gone on a few more years, but the unexpected illness and death of a judicial colleague brought the issue to the top of my things-to-do list.
“I want to enjoy the time I have left while still healthy and able. I’ll travel a bit when it’s safe to do so, and visit with my adult kids. I have no plans to work and I’m looking forward to exploring retirement.”
His last day on the bench will be June 19.
Schuit said his life has not been like one depicted the movies, remarking: “It’s been better.”
That life began in 1954 in the Netherlands. The judge reflected:
“[M]y parents were Holocaust survivors. They were arrested by the Germans, escaped, and spent years being hidden on a farm in Northern Holland. When they emerged after the country was liberated by the allies, the entire family was gone with the exception of one sister on each side.
“The cold war caused my folks to pack us up and come to the United States. They were so grateful to the US for its efforts during the war and allowing us to come here, and they instilled that level of gratitude in me.”
Schuit noted that he and his bride, nurse practitioner Patricia “Tish” King—to whom he was wed on Nov. 9, 2019—visited Holland just before the pandemic struck.
“I was able to show her the place where my folks were hidden and introduce her to the grandson of the man who took them in and protected them,” he related.
Schuit was appointed to the Los Angeles Municipal Court in 1997 by then-Gov. Pete Wilson. At the time, he was an assistant U.S. attorney for the District of Nevada, and learned of his appointment while attending a seminar in Washington, D.C.
Before becoming a federal prosecutor, he spent 16 years as a Los Angeles deputy district attorney, and four years before that as a Santa Monica deputy city attorney.
“I’m one of those lucky guys who can say that I’ve never had a bad job,” he said, enumerating those posts:
“Cop. City Attorney, District Attorney, U.S. Attorney. Judge. They’ve all been terrific, and the common theme is public service.”
Schuit commented:
“I’m truly a product of that 1950s ‘anything is possible in America’ attitude. I became an Eagle Scout, went to public schools, and went to work in the public sector the day I passed the bar. I’ve never looked back and will be forever grateful for the opportunities I have had.”
He went on to remark:
“My fondest memories of my time on the bench involve people. Colleagues who helped mold me. staff that knew what they were doing when a young judge didn’t.
“I was a Supervising Judge of the North Valley District under two administrations, and taught as a member of the faculty of the Judicial College for many years. All great memories, and yet my proudest moments were almost invisible:
“In a juvenile delinquency assignment, the mother of a ward that I had supervised for a couple of years thanking me for saving her son, or a litigant in a civil case thanking me for listening—after he had lost his case. A parent of a murdered child thanking me for the opportunity to speak during a sentencing hearing. It’s the unsung moments that make the job what it is—otherwise it would be just a job. The ability to help people, and to make them feel that they matter and that their voices have been heard is what makes me proud.”
Schuit received his law degree from Southwestern in 1979. In 2013, Southwestern Law School’s Alumni Association named him “Outstanding Judicial Officer.”
Copyright 2021, Metropolitan News Company