Women Lawyers of Sacramento is pleased to award the 2004 Frances Newell Carr Award to Superior Court Judge James Mize. This is the tenth year that this prestigious annual award has been given in honor of the late Justice Frances Newell Carr to an individual in celebration of the awardee's professional achievements, commitment to furthering legal opportunities for women in the law, and contribution to the lives of women and children in our community.

WLS President Grace Bergen presented Superior Court Judge James Mize with the 2004 Frances Newell Carr Award at the Bench-Bar Reception in June.

The Frances Newell Carr Award was established by WLS in 1994 to honor the late Justice Frances Newell Carr, who was a founder and the first president of WLS in 1962. Justice Carr was appointed by Governor Jerry Brown to the Sacramento County Superior Court and was the first woman judge appointed in the county. In 1978, she was elected the Presiding Judge of the Superior Court and, in 1980, she was appointed to the Third District Court of Appeal, where she served until her passing in 1992. Besides her professional achievements, Justice Carr had vision and commitment to her community. Judge Mize, who describes Justice Carr as " remarkable and powerful," said that he is "stunned and flabbergasted" to receive the Carr Award. "Justice Carr was so dignified, yet down to earth," comments Judge Mize. "I am honored to be associated with her name."

Judge Mize has a favorite story to tell about Justice Carr. "When Frances was the Presiding Judge at the Sacramento Superior Court, it was traditional for the Presiding Judge to introduce all the members of the bench at the annual Bench/Bar dinner. Frances got up and started her introductions by saying: 'Now, let me introduce my boys'. Of course, she brought the house down."

Mize says that Justice Carr's comment wasn't condescending or mean-spirited; rather, "it established clearly that she wasn't uncomfortable with being the Presiding Judge and that everyone knew where she was and where she stood."

This was typical of Justice Carr, Mize says. She was a trailblazer who, given the times, had a fine line to walk between being overly aggressive and risk being branded in the legal community as difficult, and being incredibly independent and her own woman.

Judge Mize has been a member and supporter of Women Lawyers of Sacramento since 1978. He first joined WLS because WLS is full of "energetic people they are ubiquitous and had the brightest, sharpest and hardest working people, and I wanted to be a part of it." Judge Mize also unabashedly calls himself a feminist who believes in "equal opportunities and pay and treatment of women in the work place and elsewhere, and joining such an organization seemed to be a natural. When I joined WLS, I saw the oppression of women in the law, I wanted to help alleviate it." In nominating Judge Mize for the Carr Award, several WLS members cited Judge Mize's support and assistance in obtaining their personal career aspirations. In support of Judge Mize being awarded the Frances Newell Carr Award, Pat Hart Jorgensen, past President of Women Lawyers of Sacramento states: "Judge Mize, a long time member of WLS, contributed much more to our organization than just the payment of the annual dues. He is quick to acknowledge and celebrate the achievements of others, and was always available to the membership for mentoring. On more than one occasion, well before he was appointed to the bench, I have overheard him encouraging members of WLS to seek a judicial appointment, stressing how important it is for there to be more women on the bench."

Surprisingly, it wasn't in Judge Mize's first plans to become a lawyer. Initially planning to enter the field of electrical engineering during college, he wanted to develop electronic equipment and work on airplanes.

The turmoil and change of the 1960's had a powerful affect, however, on Judge Mize. Always grateful for the blessings in his own life, he believes that to whom much is given, much is expected. Therefore, he changed his major to psychology and pre-med and graduated from UC Berkeley with an undergraduate degree in those fields. Wanting to be in a helping profession, Judge Mize obtained an master's of social work degree from Berkeley's Department of Social Welfare three years later. His intent was to enter the policy-making realm of social welfare so as to have the greatest impact upon the lives of people who needed help.

Judge Mize came to realize, however, that to have the most power to help people, it would be best for him to become an attorney. He became an attorney so he could "wear a white hat and help people" and graduated from the University of San Francisco School of Law in 1974.

Prior to his May 2000 appointment to the Sacramento Superior Court by Governor Gray Davis, Judge Mize was in private practice for 26 years, emphasizing family law. He became a certified family law specialist in 1987. In support of Judge Mize receiving the Frances Newell Carr Award, Virginia Mueller, past President of Women Lawyers of Sacramento states: "Judge Mize has a unique ability of making litigants feel at ease, while he still maintains control of his courtroom. His years of handling family law cases has given him an understanding of the parental conflicts that lead to the issues he is to resolve at the Family Court. Through insightful questions of the parties, he seeks to bring out areas of agreement. While being very analytical, he is able to get to the root of their problems. The citizens of Sacramento are fortunate to have him serving as a judge who combines intellect with humanity."

Judge Mize's professional achievements were also recently recognized when he was elected President of the California Judge's Association. He is serving a one year term beginning in October 2004.

Judge Mize has been very active in numerous committees and the Bar Council of the Sacramento County Bar Association, and was the President of that organization in 1986. The SCBA awarded

Judge Mize the first annual Humanitarian Award in 1988. Judge Mize was a co-founder, along with then-SCBA President Tom Eres, of the Voluntary Legal Services Program of Northern California. VLSP is the pro bono organization, established in 1981, that serves low income clients in the Sacramento region with their civil legal problems. Judge Mize was on the VLSP Advisory Committee for eight years, and was Chair of the VLSP Advisory Committee from 1992 through 1994. Judge Mize believes that "VLSP is a part of us" as lawyers and that most lawyers, when asked to help, will lend a hand. For his efforts at VLSP and elsewhere, Judge Mize received the California State Bar President's Pro Bono Service Award for District 2 in 1985.

The contributions to and activities of Judge Mize in the Sacramento legal community are simply too long to list. In addition to his activities oriented toward the legal community, Judge Mize has long been active in the community at large. Judge Mize says that he considers himself "very fortunate, as I've been blessed with a good education and lots of energy and opportunities" so that the least he can do is give back to his community.

One activity is particularly important to Judge Mize. For the past 21 years, he has spent every Tuesday evening that he's in town helping serve meals to the indigent at St. Philomene's Church in Sacramento through a program he co-founded called "Sharing God's Bounty." A small group of parishioners interested in social justice took on the problem of hunger in Sacramento head-on and established this incredibly successful program. Over 500,000 meals have been served since 1983 by the volunteers at Sharing God's Bounty to those in need.

The highlight of each year's efforts at Sharing God's Bounty is the annual Christmas dinner. Each year, Judge Mize takes charge of dozens of volunteers of all ages and assures that all 1000 guests will be given a good meal in an organized and respectful manner. Each child is given a toy and an opportunity for a photo with Santa Claus, and the adults are given gifts as well. For many of the guests, this is the only real Christmas dinner and gifts that they will have.

"If anyone thinks they are immune from being one of the lost," says Judge Mize, "come over to Bounty. There are people like engineers who lead good lives but who either developed psychological problems, or got into trouble with drugs . It doesn't take long to be homeless." The work at Sharing God's Bounty is compelling, and Judge Mize says he couldn't be home on a Tuesday night and not come to help.

Judge Mize personifies the belief that each of us can affect positive change in the world by engaging in simple acts of charity and kindness. WLS is honored to award Judge Mize the 2004 Frances Newell Carr Award.

September / October 2004