EPISODE 73: BACK FOR MORE
Welcome to Season 2 of the JudgeMental Podcast! Hugh and Christine are back after a break, and the Judge-y app has officially launched on Friday the 13th!
IN THIS EPISODE:
The official launch of the Judge-y app on Apple Store, Google Play, and web
18,555 judges now available to rate across all 50 states
How the app works: free ratings, premium features, and community building
Anonymous reviews and secure messaging to protect users from retribution
Real reviews from Texas and Louisville showing both praise and constructive feedback
Premium features ($9.99/month or $100/year) for advanced searching and pattern tracking
Community features: tag judges, ask questions, and connect with other litigants and attorneys
Daily TikTok/Instagram/Facebook Lives at 8 PM for the next two weeks - tutorials and Q&A
LINKS:
Website: judge-y.com
Social Media: @Judgingthejudges
Email: info@judgey.com
LEGAL DISCLAIMER
The content of this podcast is for informational and entertainment purposes only. It is not intended to be, and should not be construed as, legal advice. Engaging with this content does not create an attorney-client relationship between you and the hosts, guests, or their firms. The views and opinions expressed on this podcast are solely those of the individuals involved and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any law firm, company, or organization. We make no representations or warranties regarding the accuracy, completeness, or applicability of the information presented. Any reliance on the information in this podcast is at your own risk. Laws are constantly changing, and every situation is unique. You should always seek the advice of a qualified attorney for your specific legal concerns.
christine (2): You are listening
to The Judgemental Podcast.
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:Hugh (2): We're Hugh and Christine, the
Minds Behind Judgy, the revolutionary app
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:that empowers you to judge the judges.
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:christine (2): It's pastime
for judicial accountability and
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:transparency within the courts.
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:Hugh (2): Prepare for sharp
insights, candid critiques, and
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:unshakable honesty from two lawyers
determined to save the system.
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:We need some justice.
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:Justice, my fine justice.
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:And I wanna ring, be in public.
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:I wanna ring, be in public crowd.
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:Yeah.
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:christine (2): Season
two judgmental podcast.
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:We are back.
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:Y'all.
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:It has been a long break.
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:Hugh (2): Yeah, it feels like it.
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:It's also, . It's , hard to remember
how to use the equipment again.
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:christine (2): Oh, I know.
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:, For the reasons oh my God.
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:I can't speak English anymore.
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:It's been a long time
since we've done this.
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:The app launched today, Friday the 13th.
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:Hugh (2): Oh man.
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:At midnight.
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:christine (2): Yes.
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:And at
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:Hugh (2): midnight.
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:christine (2): We were up late.
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:He was up later than I.
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:It's been a wild whirlwind, I
would say the last two months with
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:everything just trying to get all the
data and get this app and how it's
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:grown from our original thoughts.
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:I'm so proud of it.
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:Hugh (2): Yeah, I gotta
reflect on it a little bit.
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:Yeah.
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:I'm still down in it.
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:christine (2): Oh,
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:Hugh (2): I know.
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:Still swatting bugs and, and,
and fixing things and making
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:sure everything's running right.
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:And yes.
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:Checking on things.
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:But it's been, been about as smooth as it
could be expected for our first release,
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:christine (2): so Oh my gosh.
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:Our first app ever.
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:Hugh (2): Yep.
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:christine (2): And so, so things,
it's an app to rate the judges, to
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:judge the judges like they judge you.
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:We've got 18,555 judges.
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:We have had.
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:I did a post about a day ago saying,
name your state, which, you know,
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:where do you wanna judge the judges?
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:And I think to date, we've
had 45 states respond.
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:Hugh (2): Yeah.
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:That's pretty, pretty awesome.
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:christine (2): Yes.
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:Hugh (2): Yep.
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:And we have had people signing up
for it are from all over the country.
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:Yeah.
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:And it's only available in North America.
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:So they're probably people that you
know that, that have commented on
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:things and that, that aren't able
to download it at the moment, but.
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:christine (2): And just for the judges
listening season one, I went over
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:that last night to see our analytics.
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:We had downloads in 27
countries and five continents.
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:Hugh (2): Yep.
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:christine (2): And so everyone is
interested in judicial accountability.
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:So we wanna, what I'm gonna start doing
is at eight o'clock, for at least the
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:next two weeks, there will be a TikTok
Live, or an Instagram Live, or a Facebook
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:Live, or a live on one of my platforms.
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:Where I'm just gonna answer questions
and do tutorials and so you guys can
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:see what the app can be because we
really need y'all to join, give your
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:information to grow the community, right?
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:Yep,
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:Hugh (2): that's right.
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:christine (2): So for free, everyone
can judge any judge that they want to.
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:Obviously you need to abide by the
terms of our, using the platform, which
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:means you can't just like make it up.
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:You have to have experience.
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:You have to be a court watcher or
have been in front of that judge at
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:Hugh (2): practice.
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:Yeah.
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:There's a questionnaire to ask what's
your experiences, you know, when the last
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:time you were in front of that judge.
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:Mm-hmm.
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:We wanna know all of that stuff.
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:Yeah.
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:And we.
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:We, you know, we have moderation
to weed out people that are just
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:going in and flaming people.
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:And some of the, some, you know, we, we
might have to do that with people that
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:are sneaking on there to give themselves
five star ratings, then deleting their
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:accounts, which we've had from some
judges here in the first day, but.
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:christine (2): LOL
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:Hugh (2): We knew it was going to happen.
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:christine (2): Yes.
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:But honestly too, we've had some
five star reviews out of Texas.
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:We've had five star reviews and they're
from litigants and they're legitimate.
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:When you read 'em, it's like,
listen, if you're gonna be in front
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:of a judge, this is the judge you
wanna be in front of which I love.
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:You know, last night if y'all
were following me, I talked
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:about I want to be wrong.
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:I want the TikTok judge to have the
highest rating, and I want her to
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:have helped every single man, woman,
and child that appeared before her.
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:Okay.
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:I,
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:Hugh (2): I mean, from my point of
view, I was afraid, I mean, the people,
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:let's, like with most online reviews,
the people that are most motivated are
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:gonna be the people that are angry.
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:And I wondered how long before people
started going on and complimenting
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:judges and talking about what a good job
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:christine (2): mm-hmm.
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:Hugh (2): People did.
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:And it was immediate.
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:Yep.
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:And I was very happy to see that because
that's, that was a big worry that I had.
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:And we've gotten really, I
mean, some of the reviews are.
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:Just positive feedback for people
that have recently been in front of
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:judges who have done a fantastic job.
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:christine (2): Yeah.
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:And we've got some attorney reviews it
looks like outta Louisville District
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:Court that are very complimentary.
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:You know, they may say, Hey, listen,
this judge does everything right.
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:This is the judge I wanna be in
front of, you know, I just wish this
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:judge could get to court on time.
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:Like, it may just be like
there's one that's like a 4.1
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:or a 4.2.
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:The timeliness was an issue, which
maybe that judge will look at that
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:and say, Hey, listen, you know what?
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:Maybe I need to get to work on
time, which you would think would
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:be a no-brainer, but I digs.
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:But it's here also to help the
judges and we have, this is on Google
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:Play, apple Store and our web app.
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:So we will be able to share the
links for people to see, and we're
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:gonna start doing reviews of the
week and all kinds of things.
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:We have so many ideas.
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:Hugh (2): Yes.
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:And you mentioned it is, I mean,
also there to help the judges.
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:Mm-hmm.
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:I mean, we want people to see if people
are complimenting you, and just say,
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:you know, it'd be perfect if they
would actually get to court on time.
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:I think that would be.
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:Useful to know Right now the database is
not public in, in as much as you have to.
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:You have to have a login
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:christine (2): mm-hmm.
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:Hugh (2): To look at.
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:It's free, like the looking at the
reviews and rating judges is free at
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:the moment when it's been launched
for a period of time, and it's, it's.
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:You know, a lot more filled out and
there are a lot more actual reviews.
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:We will make it public.
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:Mm-hmm.
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:To where people can go
and view the reviews.
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:They won't be able to rate the
judges without having a login, but
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:they'll be able to review them.
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:We want to make it to where
this is public information.
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:It's just, right now we're building
the community, we're building the
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:reviews, and anybody can go on for free.
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:You just have to log in.
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:You can actually do it anonymously.
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:You can build one out.
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:You can rate anonymously.
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:In fact, we want people to understand
who is rating the judges, but only
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:in as much as is it an attorney?
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:Is it a litigant?
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:How long ago have they been
in front of this judge?
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:How much experience have they
had in front of this judge?
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:That's important, not the identity.
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:So we're protecting people's
identity so they don't have to
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:worry about retribution or community
backlash or anything like that.
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:But yeah, we ultimately, this is
going to be a public database.
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:Yeah.
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:christine (2): What's super important
is to get on there for the community.
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:So we do have premium features and
that is only $9 a month, $9 99 cents a
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:month, or a hundred dollars for a year.
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:And that's where you can go and
literally, like, you can be like,
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:hypothetically speaking, I wanna go do
a post about how often Jim Murphy is
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:appointed in Brian Gatewood courtroom.
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:We've done investigations
about how that's a land.
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:Landlord, tenant relationship.
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:And so you would just tag.
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:And so anytime that you had Jim
Murphy appointed in Brian Gate,
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:what's easy to search and everybody
can sort of get an understanding of
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:what happens and kind of expose these
patterns and also expose good things.
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:You know what I mean?
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:Like Sure.
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:I would love for it to be, you know, a
judge that's linked with compassionate.
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:Reunification of a family like that
would be amazing to see the judges
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:that stay after hours and work hard
because we don't want the good judges
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:to be lost in this because there
are so many good judges out there.
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:You know, that just goes back to
holding other, their counterparts.
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:Or is it not counterparts?
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:They're colleagues accountable.
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:My goodness.
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:It's difficult when we
don't record for that long.
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:Hugh (2): Yeah, no, it is kind of
strange to be sitting back here again.
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:Yeah, it's good.
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:But it's, kind of weird.
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:I don't know where to look.
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:christine (2): Yeah, it is, we've got so
many stories we've been working on too.
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:We have so much the next six
months are just gonna be insane.
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:Hugh (2): Yeah, well there's,
there's a lot to talk about.
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:As far as, you know, using the community
features, one of the things we built it
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:for is so that you can tag a judge in a
thread and every post and you follow them.
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:You will just know whenever
someone else reaches out.
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:So if you're a litigant and you're
in front of a judge and you're trying
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:to figure out people's experiences
there, you want to be on the community
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:feature, you want to, you wanna reach
out and ask you, tag the judge in it.
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:Say Anybody had experience with this
judge, and everyone that posts there,
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:you'll get notified of, and it'll
keep them all together in one place.
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:Mm-hmm.
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:You can post polls, but you can also, you
know, ask about non court a non judge.
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:Court personnel or other attorneys mm-hmm.
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:And things like that.
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:And you can follow that thread.
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:So if anybody answers it, you know,
you're going to get notified of it.
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:And everything is sort of
kept together that way.
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:And it's to help people that are
litigants, help people that are attorneys.
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:If you're an attorney going into
another county and you are worried
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:about getting home cooked, and you
need to know what a judge is like the.
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:Community is where you're going to find
that information and get first stand
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:experiences from other people that
practice regularly in front of that judge.
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:christine (2): Like for example, you could
easily do a community thread that's like.
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:Hey, has anybody ever had Christine
Miller in front of Derwin Webb?
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:And then people could be like, oh my gosh.
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:You know what I mean?
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:Comment.
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:Yes, she did.
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:Was successful.
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:The judge respected her.
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:Or, oh my gosh, you know, the
judge didn't respect her and was
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:doing blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
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:That's the point of it.
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:Right?
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:So you will be informed.
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:You can also follow any judge
in the country and just follow
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:the judge that's being rated.
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:Yep.
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:And what that'll do, you don't even
have to rate the judge, but if you
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:just say, Hey, I'm in front of,
I'm trying to think of a different.
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:Doreen Goodwin.
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:Just follow that judge.
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:And so you'll be updated
every time there's a review.
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:And the goal is to have thousands,
hundreds of reviews so you can get a true,
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:because obviously, you know what I mean.
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:There's gonna be people that have
bad experiences and there's gonna
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:be people that , aren't indicative
of how the judges at all times.
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:But the point is, if there's a
hundred reviews and there's two
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:good ones, that's a problem.
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:If there's a hundred
reviews and there are two.
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:Scathing ones.
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:You know, sometimes a judge that's
doing their job adequately is
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:gonna make people upset, obviously.
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:Hugh (2): Yep.
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:And once people move the discussions
about the judges away from, you know,
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:email lists and things into judgey, into
the community section, the practitioners
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:are going to need to be on there to
follow the judges that they practice
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:in front of to hear what's happened.
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:You learn a lot from what people
report about what happens in court.
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:Mm-hmm.
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:The same way, you know, the small law
Facebook groups and things like that
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:where people report what happened in their
court and you think, oh man, I've got a
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:hearing in front of this judge next week.
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:I need to be prepared for that.
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:That's.
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:Where this information is going to be.
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:christine (2): Oh yeah.
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:I can't imagine being an attorney
and not getting this information.
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:You need to have this in order to practice
in front of the judge and you know, the
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:judges are gonna be reading all of this.
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:Hugh (2): Well,
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:christine (2): I mean,
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:Hugh (2): I hope so.
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:christine (2): Yeah,
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:Hugh (2): I hope so.
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:I mean, I think that's
going to be important.
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:That's a piece that's been
missing this whole time.
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:I mean, every now and then you get the
anonymous polls or you know, surveys
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:about the judges that are sent out.
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:But that's only to the attor,
you know, to certain attorneys.
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:And that's, you know, once in a blue moon.
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:This is the first time where
judges have been able to actually.
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:Read feedback of what they're doing
in court and how things are going
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:and how people think about their,
like you said, their profession, you
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:know, the way that they treat people.
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:Their timeliness, their legal knowledge.
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:Mm-hmm.
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:Not just whether you were happy
about the outcome of your case.
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:Yep.
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:Which will be something that comes
soon as a feature where people can.
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:Add information about the
outcome of their case.
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:And I think what's going to be very
interesting is at least from my experience
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:as a practitioner, I would have clients
who would get a negative outcome from
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:a judge and be very complimentary Yep.
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:To the judge because they
would understand why.
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:And when a judge clearly explains
things, communicates well.
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:Mm-hmm.
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:And treats everyone with respect.
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:You get respect from the litigants
will follow the orders and respect
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:them even if they go against them.
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:christine (2): A hundred percent.
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:I mean, I had people that used to be
sentenced to prison that thought highly
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:of the judge, that sentenced them,
like understood they were doing their
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:job, they were respectful and they
were motivating in order for people to
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:get their lives back together, to get
off substances, things of that nature.
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:So yes, absolutely.
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:And one thing we have failed
to mention entirely, which is.
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:Obviously entirely your idea,
which I think is going to be a game
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:changer, is the secure messaging.
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:You can message people on the app.
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:Like, for example, I see that
there's just a new thread that's been
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:posted in Christine wards courtroom.
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:Does anybody have patience
Fitzpatrick as a GAL or FOC?
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:Well, you can find out if
somebody responds to that.
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:Y'all can message each other and
there can be a group of parents,
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:which is literally what happened
when I was in California with that.
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:Custodial evaluator that did a lot of
families dirty, allegedly, they formed a
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:friendship and a comradery to get through
it together and just expose patterns.
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:If those patterns exist.
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:Maybe they do, maybe they don't, but
this is what the app is here for.
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:Hugh (2): I mean, we've seen
that with, other states.
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:Where people have gotten together
and met through online communications
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:christine (2): mm-hmm.
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:Hugh (2): And exposed things that were
going on with custodial evaluators
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:that were not doing their job and
basically stealing people's money.
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:And so we want to be a forum for that.
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:I've noticed that there's
been a lot of, there have been
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:quite a few private messages.
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:I don't know who they're from,
and that's intentional when
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:we say that this is secure.
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:I can see the activity that's happening.
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:I have to monitor that to make
sure everything's working well.
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:But the identities are anonymized
and they just, you look like a big
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:string, long string of numbers.
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:christine (2): And y'all,
I can't even say it.
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:I mean, I'm sure I could get
access to yours, but I'm not even
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:like Hugh is the only person.
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:It's secure.
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:It's encrypted is the right word.
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:Yep.
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:Everybody like claps to Hugh because
you, I basically can't add, I don't know.
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:I didn't build an app, do
you know what I'm saying?
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:So I guess friendly reminder every single
day for the rest of March 8:00 PM I
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:will be doing a live to go over things.
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:If your judge is not on the platform
you can comment on all of my socials
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:or our socials, but the best way
is gonna be email info@judgey.com.
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:Yep.
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:You guys, we've got drama.
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:tea gossip, good stories for
literally a million years after
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:taking just six weeks off.
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:The biggest one is, like
I said, you win a prize.
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:If our name has been mentioned on the
record, I want you to get on the app and
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:secure message me because these attorneys
are, these attorneys and judges literally
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:are going through my entire social media
feed and looking to see if you comment.
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:Okay.
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:You need to think of other activities
to do, like, you know, get some friends
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:for crying out loud or a life that is
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:Hugh (2): maybe get some orders written.
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:christine (2): Yeah, yeah, yeah.
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:I don't even have time
to read every comment.
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:I can't even imagine how
that is just very sad.
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:I'm gonna pray for you.
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:I'm gonna be, I'm gonna be complimentary.
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:It's lint.
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:I gave up cursing for Lent.
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:I've been doing really good, haven't I?
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:Hugh (2): It has been hilarious,
but yes, it has been like.
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:I can't believe you haven't exploded
yet, but you, it seems a lot, you
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:know, over the last like week or so,
it's gotten a lot easier it seems.
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:Yeah.
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:christine (2): I mean, and that's
been a great thing to give up,
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:but seriously, the fact that these
judges cannot be introspective at
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:all to understand how we got here.
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:You know what I mean?
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:Just a little bit of looking
inward and saying, Hey, listen,
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:this didn't happen in a vacuum.
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:Right?
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:Hugh (2): Oh, that's right.
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:And ultimately we want to help.
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:Mm-hmm.
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:So if seeing the comments and seeing how.
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:You are viewed and what people's
experiences is in your courtroom,
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:helps you and helps the process.
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:Get better.
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:christine (2): Mm-hmm.
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:Hugh (2): Then we've done our job.
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:christine (2): Absolutely.
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:Also just bear with us.
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:There's gonna be little
glitches and stuff like that.
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:It's huge and it's on
three different platforms.
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:It's three different
types of code, I think.
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:It is an endeavor to
do something like this.
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:So we're gonna have little things
that we're gonna work on and obviously
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:Hugh has like 1700 ideas of things
to add to make the app better, which
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:we're just gonna keep rolling those
out over the next couple months.
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:Hugh (2): Yep.
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:Yep.
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:And yeah, , for the judges some of the
states when we were pulling the data,
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:didn't get all the magistrates, so we've
already had some comments on people
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:looking for specific magistrate judges.
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:Happy to add them.
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:christine (2): Mm-hmm.
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:Hugh (2): Email us.
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:We will add them very quickly.
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:We've realized that some states.
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:Magistrates were listed in such a way
that they got picked up in our database.
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:In some states they weren't, and
we'll fix that as quickly as possible.
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:We just need to hear from you.
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:christine (2): Awesome.
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:Judge y.com
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:info@judgey.com
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:if we're missing someone.
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:See y'all soon.
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:Hugh (2): See it.
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:Speaker 3: Next call.
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:We need some justice, justice, justice.
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:And I wanna ring bells in public.
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:I wanna ring bes in public nor crowd.
419
:Yeah, but I To the fo Yeah.
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:I To the fo Yeah.
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:I to the fo fo
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:teaser.
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:Content of this podcast
is for informational and
424
:entertainment purposes only.
425
:It is not intended to be and should
not be construed as legal advice.
426
:Engaging with this content does not create
an attorney-client relationship between
427
:you and the hosts, guests, or their firms.
428
:The views and opinions expressed
on this podcast are solely those
429
:of the individuals involved and
do not necessarily reflect the
430
:official policy or position of any
law firm, company or organization.
431
:We make no representations or
warranties regarding the accuracy,
432
:completeness, or applicability
of the information presented.
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:Any reliance on the information in
this podcast is at your own risk.
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:Laws are constantly changing
and every situation is unique.
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:You should always seek the advice
of a qualified attorney for
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:your specific legal concerns.