Being a judge is the longest job Ronald B. Robie has ever had. Appointed as a municipal court judge in 1983, Robie served there until he was elected to a vacant seat on Sacramento County Superior Court. In 2002, Governor Gray Davis appointed Robie to the California Court of Appeal, Third Appellate District.

Third District Court of Appeal welcomes new colleague.

The Sacramento County Bar Association is proud to name Justice Ronald Boyd Robie as its Judge of the Year.

The "Judge of the Year Award" recognizes a judge or justice who is highly respected for his legal abilities, known for appropriate judicial demeanor and lack of bias, and who has demonstrated commitment to the SCBA mission; commitment to fair and equitable administration of the courts; and service to the community at large. Over his long and distinguished career, Robie has epitomized all of the above.

When asked for his comments about the award Presiding Justice Arthur G. Scotland had this to say. "Like Justice Robie, who bubbles over with his energy and love of the law, I bubble over with praise for his work. Ron's mind is keen, and his enthusiasm is infectious. As expected, he already has made great contributions to the work of the court of appeal."

Robie earned bachelor of arts and master of journalism degrees from the University of California, Berkeley, where he was a member of Phi Beta Kappa, and a juris doctorate degree from McGeorge Law School, where he was first in his class. Before his appointment to the bench, Robie served as director of the Department of Water Resources from 1975 to 1983. Before that, he was the attorney member on the State Water Resources Control Board from 1969 to 1975, and a consultant to the Assembly Water Committee from 1960 to 1969. Robie has been a frequent faculty member at programs sponsored by the Center for Judicial Education and Research and the Judicial College of California. Since 1970, he has been an adjunct professor at McGeorge School of Law. An active member in the California Judges Association, Robie served on its Executive Board between 1990 and 1993.

A highly regarded trial judge, Robie has handled virtually every trial court assignment, including criminal and civil trials, family law, civil law and motion matters, death penalty cases, and civil writs. He also served for two years in the superior court appellate department and as a justice pro tempore on the Court of Appeal in 1984 and 1985. Uniformly, those who have worked with, and appeared before, him comment on his amazing energy and intelligent response to the issues before him. Robie says that the job is always fun no matter the assignment. He relished the intellectual challenge of the complexity of legal issues faced in law and motion, family law and as a trial judge. As a writ judge, he sometimes had the opportunity to use his exceptional skills in environmental and water law.

Robie feels that he has been very lucky. He came to Sacramento as a Ford Foundation legislative intern in 1960. Water issues found him, rather the other way around. He wanted to work for the Education Committee but was directed instead to the Assembly Water Committee. This "opened a huge door." Upon completion of his internship, he became consultant to the committee and then served as its director. During the sixties he was involved in trailblazing water quality control bills and in the creation of the State Water Resources Control Board. He was later appointed to the board by then-Governor Ronald Reagan and participated in many decisions designed to protect Delta water.

During his time on the superior court bench, Robie both witnessed, and was instrumental in making, many changes. Robie served as the presiding judge during 1994 and 1995 and again as acting-presiding judge in 1997 when his dear friend and colleague William R. Ridgeway became too ill to serve.

During his term as presiding judge the courts were in transition. Robie faced the difficult, and sometimes daunting, task of implementing the consolidation of the municipal and superior courts. In hindsight, now that the unification of state courts has been successfully accomplished, it is difficult to believe that at the time there was a great deal of trepidation about court consolidation. Robie believes the task was a little easier in Sacramento than in some other counties because everyone was in the same building and the judges were all good friends but there was still the problem of integrating two entirely different court systems. Robie embraced the changes and made appointments of municipal court judges to traditional superior court positions, such as juvenile court, to promote integration. Sacramento County became a model for rest of the state.

Robie has spent much of his career, not only adjudicating cases but also working to increase efficiency within the court system. He has served as an educator in the field of court technology through CJER. He has chaired CJER's computer course planning committee and taught advanced computer applications for judges.

In addition to providing educational assistance to his colleagues, Robie has been a member of many organizations that seek to improve judicial administration. He served on the California Judges Association's Executive Board as chair of its technology committee, the Federal-State Judicial Council and the Judicial Administration Institute of California. In 1999, Chief Justice Ronald M. George appointed Robie to the Judicial Council. He served as liaison to the council's court technology advisory committee and now serves as chair of the rules and projects committee.

Robie is excited about the technological advances being made in the court system. As someone who epitomizes "multi-tasking," Robie loved the fact that he had a computer on the bench during trial. This enabled him to instantly check case records or pull a legal citation in the middle of trial. "We can have it on the bench a few minutes after the lawyer gives us the citation." He believes that good use of technology makes the courts better.

Even though he has been a judge for so long, Robie has maintained a long-standing commitment to the SCBA, which he joined right after he passed the bar. He believes that involvement in the community is very important and his membership (now honorary) in the bar association maintains that commitment. By way of example, he recently served as chair of the Environmental Law Section. He encourages all lawyers to join their local bar association as a way of becoming involved in the community.

So! What does Robie do to recharge his batteries and maintain his exceptional energy? Well, first, he works out every morning to maintain his high level of physical fitness. Then, he likes to relax with his wife Lynn and his family. He especially enjoys his role as "grandpa" to his four grandchildren, who are all in Sacramento. He describes Lynn with characteristic self-deprecating humor as "the famous person in the family." He recalls that once when she was serving on the City Council, he was introduced as "Judge Lynn Robie."

Last, but by no means least, he pursues his "passion" for going to the theater and his "obsession" for collecting recordings of Broadway and London shows. When we spoke he was just off on one of his regular trips to London to go to the "theatre." He also haunts used record stores to find old recordings. He confesses to having around 400 in his collection. If he "had to say, his favorite is probably Carousel." His love of the theater started at an early age. He studied speech as well as journalism in college. He wrote theater reviews and ushered at productions to make sure that he could go to as many as possible.

Robie is already making his mark on the court of appeal with several published decisions under his belt. And, so far, the reviews are good. As Presiding Justice Art Scotland points out even losing counsel called one decision "erudite." According to Justice Scotland, "It doesn't get much better than that!"

To sum up in the words of Charity Kenyon "Take respect born of experience for the legislative process, the executive branch and the judiciary, add enthusiasm, passion, high energy and intellectual curiosity and then tie it up with a bow tie - you've got a complete package and a great addition to the court of appeal."

Congratulations Justice Robie on a well-deserved award!