Former Appellate Division, First Department Justice David Saxe’s memories of his first trial as a judge brought back my own memories of one of my first trials as an assistant Nassau County district attorney in 1997. I joined the district attorney’s office the previous year, after a year as a law clerk and nearly four years in Big Law (before it had received that moniker). Having met my now-wife, my bank account, and my retirement plan at the law firm, I knew that I wanted to “come home” to Long Island to serve the community in which I was born and raised. I also knew that I wanted some “practical” experience in the courtroom, which of course is rare in big-firm practice.