by Richard W. Millar, Jr.

In Hamlet (Act 1, Scene 3, for the citation conscious), Polonius says to his son Laertes:

“Neither a borrower nor a lender be,

For loan oft loses both itself and friend . . . .”

He was not talking about the mortgage crisis. His point was personal, not institutional. He was warning against loaning money to friends because injecting debt into personal relationships can breed resentment, and if the loan goes south as loans to friends often do, you can end up losing both your friend and your money. Inter-family loans should also be subject to this warning.

There is Millar’s Corollary for business partnerships among, shall we say, unequal partners. If there are two partners and one puts in money and the other puts in his “experience,” the partnership will collapse, and the one putting in the experience will get the money and the one putting in the money will get the experience.

I never really thought about applying Polonius’ advice to members of the judiciary. I also never thought of this language applying to anything other than money. Such as a robe. A judge’s robe to be specific.

As you would suspect, a case in point.

But first, a digression. I have learned in the course of these columns that the best source of material comes from either Cook County, Illinois or anywhere in the State of Texas. This time it is a tip of the hat to Cook County.

Valery Turner, a graduate of Northwestern and University of Chicago Law School, a former federal prosecutor and “Big Law” associate, has been described as a “veteran” Cook County Circuit Court Judge. She is, as my late father would have jokingly said, “well edumacated.” She heard cases in the Markham, Illinois courthouse.

Rhonda Crawford was a “law clerk/staff attorney” in the office of the county’s chief judge, Timothy Evans. She wanted to be a judge. She ran in the Democratic primary for the 1st Judicial Subcircuit (whatever that is), and apparently bested two opponents. She was, as of this writing, unopposed in the general election in November.

As the story goes, Ms. Crawford wanted to get a sense of what judging was all about, and was “job shadowing” Judge Turner. I am out of the loop on current employment vernacular but I am guessing that “job shadowing” means watching what Judge Turner did during the day. I am reasonably sure it doesn’t mean doing someone else’s job or, in this case, sitting in for Judge Turner.

Reportedly, or allegedly, which is another way of saying I wasn’t there, Judge Turner lent Ms. Crawford her robe and allowed Ms. Crawford to take her place on the bench. “Judge” Crawford/Turner—whatever name she used—apparently heard two traffic cases. While her rulings on the two cases have not been disclosed, I am guessing they were convictions, since both cases will now be heard before a “real” judge, but perhaps double jeopardy doesn’t apply (a) in Cook County or (b) if the bench officer is wearing training wheels under her borrowed robe.

As of this writing, Chief Judge Evans, who has to be inordinately thrilled that this (again allegedly) went on under his watch, has, according to his order, removed Judge Turner from her current assignment and, until the investigation is completed, she is “assigned to restricted duties other than judicial duties in the First Municipal District as determined by the Honorable E. Kenneth Wright Jr., Presiding Judge of the First Municipal District.”

Ms. Crawford reportedly has been suspended without pay pending “internal” investigation. Both are at risk to lose their robe(s).

They should have listened to Polonius.

Richard W. Millar, Jr. is a member of the firm of Millar, Hodges & Bemis in Newport Beach. He can be reached at millar@mhblaw.net.