WE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE

The Honorable Judge Jaime R. Román

Judge Jaime R. Román was appointed to the Sacramento Superior Court by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger on May 23, 2007. He previously served as Presiding Administrative Law Judge at the Office of Administrative Hearings, Deputy Attorney General for the State of California, Deputy District Attorney in Solano County and engaged in private law practice. He was a reserve member of the US. Army Judge Advocate General Comps for 26 years and retired as a colonel. Judge Roman is the Supervising Judge for Criminal Law Home Courts at the Lorenzo Patino Courthouse. He recently completed service as the criminal domestic violence judge, following 312 years as a family law judge at the William Ridgeway Family Relations Courthouse. He received his JD from Hastings College of the Law, an LLM (International Banking Law) from Boston University, and a Masters in Strategic Studies from the United States Army War College. He has served as Adjunct Faculty at Solano Community College, JFK University, La Verne Law School, Chapman University, University of Phoenix, and McGeorge School of Law

Seventeen. That is the number of children who, by the time I completed my tenure as a family law judge, attempted suicide. Recently, one of my colleagues had an adolescent, reportedly quite gifted and popular at his high school campus, and whose parents were embroiled in their divorce, commit suicide.

As a family law judge, I was haunted each day that I returned to work with the thought that today I will learn that a child succeeded in ending his or her own life. During my three and a half years in family law, I never received such news. That tenure as a family law judge was very much like my service as an Army colonel where, as a commander, I had to select soldiers who were sent into harm’s way in various theaters of operation. During my three years of command, I never received such news. I enjoyed family law. I also enjoyed command. But when I passed the flag of command to my successor, I remember the sense of relief. And, in a similar fashion, I recall the sense of relief when I departed my family law assignment.