Judge sets 2nd precedent; Law '80 grad parlays best-seller into hit talk show

Justice Harvey Brownstone, Law '80, host of the hit talk show "Family Matters"

Judges never speak out on the laws they interpret – but Justice Harvey Brownstone, Law '80, did that with his book Tug of War, which spent 13 weeks on the national best-seller list and is in its fifth printing. In April 2010 he became the world’s first and only sitting judge to host an Internet TV talk show. On “Family Matters,” he educates the public on a wide variety of issues relating to family law, the justice system, relationships, parenting and the well-being of children.

Noting tens of thousands of hits on his Globe and Mail-sponsored online Q & A, Nancy Kinney, owner of the legal information website AdviceScene, proposed to Justice Brownstone in 2009 that he take his public outreach efforts to the next level by hosting an online legal education program. By December 2010, he had appeared on about 200 radio and TV talk shows, made national headlines, and his show was receiving 50,000 hits a day from around the globe.

“The overwhelmingly positive response is solid validation of the tremendous hunger and need out there for reliable, accessible information about the law and the justice system,” he says. “If people go to the Internet and TV for information, then we judges, people who know what we’re talking about, have an obligation as public educators to provide dependable, easily accessible information.”

The judiciary clearly recognizes that Justice Brownstone’s public education campaign has enhanced its image. Last August, he received the “Colleague in the Spotlight” award from the Canadian Bar Association Judge’s Forum. “It is tremendously meaningful to be recognized by my colleagues in the judiciary,” he says, “who understand how challenging it can be for a judge to be a trailblazer.”

His Queen's experience, he says, reinforced his commitment to public service. “My professors always encouraged me to think outside the box -- to be creative and innovative -- to use the law as an instrument for social change and to enhance access to justice.”

This season’s episodes begin airing on September 13 -- not only online but also on TV. The show, which has been well received by the Canadian TV industry, was purchased by networks including CHCH TV and CHEK TV this summer for broadcast as a weekly show.

Watch “Family Matters” free of charge at www.familymatterstv.com and its network debut on CHCH TV in Ontario on September 13 at 10:30p.m. (see the promo at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AmtcB_tcumk 

Read about Tug of War in Queen’s Law Reports 2009, pp. 48-49 at http://law.queensu.ca/alumni/queensLawReports/lawReports2009.pdf .

Read the article, "Ontario judge’s showmanship leads to TV series," by Kirk Makin, published in the Globe and Mail on September 7, 2011, at http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/ontario-judges-showmanship-leads-to-tv-series/article2157348/

Justice Brownstone is presenting the lecture "A Judge's Perspective on How You Should Approach Law School" to all first-year students at Queen’s Law on September 9.