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Bar News - March 8, 2002 William Drescher Leaves Milford Bench, Cites Burdens of Time By: David Brooks, The Telegraph It was a sad day at Milford District Court on Friday, Feb. 15, as friends and colleagues bid goodbye to Judge William Drescher after 26 years on the bench, but a visitor would have trouble telling that amid the cakes, the joking and the galumphing dogs. "This is very somber," said Clerk Lynne Lavigne, after pausing to let Drescher’s golden retrievers, Mozart and Beethoven, lick frosting off her fingers. Such a mix of seriousness and joviality is partly a reflection of Drescher’s personality, say clerks who have worked with him for some two decades. "He’ll sing you a song, play the piano, recite Shakespeare that we don’t even understand," said Clerk Lynne Erdody, laughing. "Milford District Court will never be the same." Drescher, 59, is also known throughout southern New Hampshire as the official counsel for more than a half-dozen communities, reflecting his expertise in municipal law. He says a conflict between that career and being a part-time judge got too much. "It was the hours," he said. "When you go into litigation (as an attorney), you need to be able to set aside a chunk of time, and that was getting increasingly difficult." District courts are the introductory rung on the judicial ladder. The bulk of their cases concern domestic matters, alcohol-related offenses and relatively minor crimes, although it also is the starting point for the prosecution of major crimes as they move up to superior courts. There are 39 district courts in New Hampshire and most of those, except for larger courts located in cities, have part-time judges who continue to practice as private attorneys. Drescher, a New York City native, graduated from the University of Pennsylvania and the Boston University Law School. He came up to the Souhegan Valley because he liked the area. In 1972, four years after he passed the bar, Amherst advertised for a town attorney and he won the job. Four years later, he also took on the role of special justice for the district court, filling in when the regular judge couldn’t. In recent years, Milford District Court expanded to three weekly sessions most of the time, plus a night session once a month. Being the lead judge also involves such things as middle-of-the-night calls to consider search warrants or decide on juvenile placements. "My wife (Carol) had a subtle way of saying she thought I should step down. She said if I didn’t, she’d drive a stake through my heart at night while I was asleep," Drescher said. Being a district court judge now pays roughly $50,000 to $70,000 a year, depending on the caseload, but has none of the benefits offered to full-time judges, such as health insurance or vacation. "That’s not bad pay for a part-time job," said Drescher, but he added that, nonetheless, part-time judges were still a good deal for the state. "They subsidize the office. I can’t tell you how many times my office has typed up rulings, or done other work (for the court)," he said. Drescher said he believed that continued growth in New Hampshire, plus changes in the legal system, were slowly driving district courts toward full-time judges. "I think that is the trend," he said. "It will happen everywhere, eventually." This will be good in a way, he said, as full-time judges have more time to devote to the court, but it will also be a loss. "If you’re practicing law, you really have to stay up to speed on a lot of areas of the law. It brings to the bench a degree of experience," he said. "And it gets you out in the community, so you know what’s going on." This last fact can produce a problem with conflicts of interest, however. Drescher estimated that the court spent up to a fifth of its time when not in session checking to make sure that his law practice wouldn’t conflict with his judicial practice. After all, a judge can’t rule on his own clients. Drescher’s departure is the third major change in recent years for Milford District Court, which covers seven Souhegan Valley towns from Wilton to Amherst. Judge J. Colin Lizotte retired three years ago after sitting on the bench for 35 years. [Drescher was appointed to succeed him as presiding judge in 1999]. Last September, the courthouse returned to Milford after almost a decade in what was supposed to be temporary quarters in an Amherst shopping center. "That was one of the things I was waiting for. I wanted to see this out, getting back to Milford," Drescher said. "Even though we’re still in leased space (in a shopping plaza), this is a legitimate court, a real court." The other event that helped him decide he could leave, Drescher said, was December’s appointment of Nashua attorney Paul Moore as special judge for the district – the title Drescher held for two decades under Lizotte before assuming the presiding justice title in 1999. Drescher said Moore would be able to follow in the tradition of Lizotte, who was Drescher’s law partner for many years. Lizotte died of throat cancer in 2000. As for the future, Drescher swears he won’t miss donning the black robe. "I’m looking forward to an extra cup of coffee with my wife in the morning," he said. This article is reprinted courtesy of The Telegraph, Nashua, NH, www.nashuatelegraph.com.
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