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Superior Court Judge John J. Kralik to Retire
By a MetNews Staff Writer
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JOHN J. KRALIK Superior Court judge |
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge John J. Kralik, 70, will officially retire on June 29 after using up earned vacation days, with plans to obtain the master’s degree in divinity he’s been seeking and possibly continue his career as an author of commercially-sold books.
Kralik, who was appointed to the bench on Sept. 1, 2009, by then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, said he has been working on that degree “at night over the last few years” and hopes that it will lead him “to the next step in serving God.”
His 2021 book, “Three Bodies by the River,” is a novel, available from Amazon and elsewhere, about a Los Angeles lawyer in the 1990s who becomes a murder suspect and must deal with ethical conflicts. He authored two earlier non-fiction books drawn from personal experiences.
“Maybe there are still a few worthwhile things I have left to say and that I am supposed to say,” Kralik reflected. “I hope that there will be a way [to] say them by returning to my writing career.
“I want to see if there is any remnant of the young man from Michigan who just wanted to write.”
The judge actually departed the bench effective last Sunday, after nearly 16 years as a judge and 30 years as a lawyer. He related:
“My first project in retirement will be to write in gratitude to all of those who have made my retirement a special event in my life: a time to reflect on all of those who have made my time with the court such an opportunity to effect God’s justice here on earth. I formed valuable friendships with judges, research attorneys, judicial assistants, courtroom assistants, file clerks, cleaning and maintenance workers who all work hard with excellence in mind. These are friendships for life, and I’ve told many to drop the ‘your honor’ stuff, if they can. It will be a relief to be ‘John’ again.
“Over the last 16 years and hundreds of jury trials. I learned of the importance that in-person jury trials represent in finding the truth about human events. The jury trial began in the English Middle Ages, yet it is worth preserving in the modem world where we retreat to our side without listening to the other side. I am most proud of those trials in my courtroom where the truth was revealed through the in-court confrontation of opposing views.”
The jurist continued:
“My wife Catherine, and my children and grandchildren, deserve more attention than they have received over my 46-year legal career. Still, I don’t think I’m done: There is hope for further employment and I will investigate opportunities for arbitration and mediation, or other employment utilizing my legal experiences and writing and speaking ability.
“In all things I will place myself in God’s hands, knowing that he will guide me to the destination he has planned.”
Failures Recited
Kralik’s adult life had been less than idyllic, as the judge candidly revealed in his first book, “365 Thank Yous: The Year a Simple Act of Daily Gratitude Changed My Life,” published in 2010. Amazon recites on its website:
“One recent December, at age 53, John Kralik found his life at a terrible, frightening low: his small law firm was failing; he was struggling through a painful second divorce; he had grown distant from his two older children and was afraid he might lose contact with his young daughter; he was living in a tiny apartment where he froze in the winter and baked in the summer; he was 40 pounds overweight; his girlfriend had just broken up with him; and overall, his dearest life dreams—including hopes of upholding idealistic legal principles and of becoming a judge—seemed to have slipped beyond his reach.”
Kralik tells in that book of the uplifting effect of sending a “thank you” note each day to someone who sometime had conferred a kindness on him. Amazon comments:
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Los Angeles Superior Court Judge John J. Kralik, who is retiring from his judicial post, is the author of three books, including the 2021 suspense/thriller, “Three Bodies by the River.” |
“365 Thank Yous is a rare memoir: its touching, immediately accessible message—and benefits—come to readers from the plainspoken storytelling of an ordinary man. Kralik sets a believable, doable example of how to live a miraculously good life. To read 365 Thank Yous is to be changed.”
In 2013, Kralik followed up with a book titled, “A Simple Act of Gratitude: How Learning to Say Thank You Changed My Life.”
Judge’s Background
Kralik earned both his undergraduate and law degrees at the University of Michigan.
He was a partner in Kralik and Jacobs LLP when appointed to the bench.
Counsel for the Atlantic Richfield Company from 1993-2000, Kralik worked for law firms, and headed his own firm, at various points, and engaged in commercial endeavors.
Copyright 2025, Metropolitan News Company