In a new courthouse drama on CBS, Simone Missick plays prosecutor-turned-judge Lola Carmichael. Courtesy photo.

New CBS drama "All Rise" follows a California prosecutor's rise to the bench as she begins " pushing the boundaries and challenging the expectations of what a judge can be."

But it has some South Florida judges cringing.

Though Broward Circuit Judge Shari Africk Olefson was happy to see TV that exposes the general population to life in the judiciary, she was slightly alarmed to see the main character, Judge Lola Carmichael, having ex-parte conversations in stairwells, getting involved in public defenders' private lives and addressing parties on a first-name basis in the courtroom.

"I think that in the real world, the objections would have been flying," Africk Olefson said. "And probably complaints. She would have been asked to recuse herself."

Judges are bound by a code of ethics that requires them to avoid any behavior that could even give the impression of impartiality. But the show seems to disregard that, in Broward County Judge Mardi Levey Cohen's view.

"In the first few minutes, I was like, 'Wow, a woman who's a judge, a minority, this is great,' " Levey Cohen said. " But there were too many ethical violations for it to be realistic and for it to help the public understand what judges do."

Africk Olefseon agrees: It's all fun and games until members of the public assume the judiciary actually acts the way Carmichael does in the show.

"Everything falls apart if people start thinking that judges are not applying the law fairly. Who's going to follow the law?" Africk Olefson said. "I think there's no single case that's more important than the overriding priority, which is public faith in the judiciary."

Though it goes without saying that TV shows tend to exaggerate when depicting real life occupations, Levey Cohen said she worries "All Rise" could undermine the public's perception of judges.

"I think that the judiciary really doesn't lend itself to television," Levey Cohen said. "Because there's drama, but we don't get involved in the cases."

Levey Cohen said that after watching the fictional judge go on an independent fact-finding mission to help protect a defendant's interests, or skirt ethical boundaries through her close friendship with a prosecutor, viewers might wonder whether they'd be treated fairly in court.

Fort Lauderdale- Judge Ginger Lerner-Wren

"We're humans. When we sentence people and we make rulings, yes, our emotions, our knowledge and experience does come into play," she  said. "However, we temper that with neutrality of the law and what we're supposed to do in our job."

But it's not all bad, according to Broward County Judge Ginger Lerner-Wren, who noted that Carmichael's character "demonstrated many of the values and judicial stylings of many judges who practice in problem-solving courts."

"It's fair to say the writers need to brush up on the judicial canons of ethics," Lerner-Wren said. "Yet, as a woman and pioneer of America's first mental health court, it was exciting to see the law humanized and a judge presiding with kindness."

'Never in a million years'

The most comical moment, according to Africk Olefson, was when Carmichael walked into a room full of judges sitting around having coffee.

"Never in a million years can I imagine that happening," she laughed. "We are all working all the time. I've been out to lunch maybe twice."

Broward County Judge Corey Amanda Cawthon watched the show with her nonlawyer boyfriend, to whom she provided a live fact-checking experience, commenting about what was accurate and what wasn't.

"I've always been jealous of all my doctor friends watching shows like Grey's Anatomy, who can comment on it, and we've never really had that, so it's fun to watch it now," Cawthon said.

The most unrealistic moment, she said, came when Carmichael put her robes on over a full suit and jacket.

"It's way too hot for that," Cawthon said.

'Don't call me judge'

The show did a good job of capturing the strange, sometimes awkward transition from lawyer to judge, according to Levey Cohen, who related to a scene where Carmichael was taken aback by her prosecutor-friend calling her "your honor."

"At first, you tell everybody, 'Don't call me judge,' but then everybody keeps calling you judge and finally one day you accept it," Levey Cohen said. "It starts out you don't really want to be treated differently, but you realize that you have to be treated differently because the office, at least when you're wearing your robes, requires that. And then when you're off the bench you're still a judge in a way, too."

Cawthon, who rose to the bench in January, said she related to a conversation between Carmichael and her prosecutor-friend, who became upset when the newly appointed judge changed her stance on a long-held opinion.

"He was like, 'I don't understand, a couple weeks ago this is what you were thinking.' And she made a comment to him that, 'When you're a judge, the buck stops with you,' " Cawthon said. " The thinking is different. It just is. Because when you're an attorney you're so geared toward winning your side of it, and when you're a judge you have to consider both sides and consider what's fair. There's just completely different considerations that come into it and it just is such a heavier weight that falls on your shoulders."

It's like going from team member to umpire, Cawthon said.

"It's hard, because sometimes you'll see an argument that should be made or an objection that should be made, and it's not your place to do that anymore," she said.

Judge Shari Africk Olefson.

For Africk Olefson, it rang true to see the fictional judge stop to take a deep breath before entering the courtroom for the first time, because it's something she does every day.

"I stop at the door, and I just take a moment to take a few breaths and just kind of get in the mindset and recognize that I'm not walking in there as me, I'm walking in there as the legal system and the law," Africk Olefson said. "Everything else, you have to leave at the door."

Levey Cohen shared that sentiment.

"I think every single judge went through that the first time they ever walked out there with their robes and got announced and everybody stood up," Levey Cohen said. "It still catches my breath, and I've been a judge for eight years."

"All Rise" airs Mondays at 9 p.m. EST on CBS.

 

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