Hon. Herman Michels, former presiding judge of the Appellate Division and our friend and colleague of many years, died on Dec. 31 at the age of 83. He had a favorite book, The Art of Judging , by James E. Bond. It discusses the two roles that judges play — as craftsman and as statesman. Although the book uses the terms as a jumping-off point for a spirited debate about the manner in which novel constitutional questions should be resolved, the terms themselves are, we think, apt in reflecting on the Judge Michels we all knew and could not help but love.
To be sure, Judge Michels was a superb craftsman. His 4,000 opinions, over 300 of which were published, are models of clarity and economy, in the best tradition of legal writing, which he never failed to teach his law clerks and urge upon his colleagues. These opinions, while addressing some of the most significant issues of our time during the course of a 25-year judicial career, nonetheless avoided soaring rhetoric or disparagement of the arguments with which he disagreed. For example, in vacating a divorce judgment in Peskin v. Peskin , 271 N.J. Super. 261, 278 (App. Div. 1994), on the ground that it was the product of a trial court’s actions in coercing a settlement, Judge Michels put it succinctly, but somehow powerfully: “the trial court had a duty to exercise the highest degree of patience and forbearance with defendant, which it failed to do.” Always precise, always careful, never sloppy, Judge Michels’s craftsmanship as a judge was something to which we as lawyers and others as judges could only aspire, albeit with his willing assistance.
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