SHEINDLIN, JUDITH

SHEINDLIN, JUDITH (1942– ), U.S. judge. Judith Blum Sheindlin was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., and educated at American University in Washington, D.C., and New York Law School. Beginning in 1972, Sheindlin prosecuted juvenile delinquency cases for ten years, until she was appointed a judge of Family Court in Manhattan. She retired from the bench in 1996 and began a television career as Judge Judy, an irrepressibly outspoken judge constantly admonishing plaintiffs and defendants. For more than ten years, Sheindlin rendered opinions sharply and quickly in a widely syndicated and extremely popular half-hour series. Her husband, GERALD, who graduated from Long Island University and Brooklyn Law School, became a judge in the Bronx and then an acting justice of the State Supreme Court. He retired at 65 to begin a television career as Judge Jerry of The People's Court. He had presided over 86 murder trials and published 65 opinions, but his show, frequently aired back to back with his wife's, was not as successful as hers. Nevertheless, the couple's television earnings far eclipsed their salaries on the bench. Judge Judy was the author of several books, including Don't Pee on My Leg and Tell Me It's Raining and Beauty Fades, Dumb Is Forever: The Making of a Happy Woman (1999). (Stewart Kampel (2nd ed.)