Despite her robes and
her
title, Grant is not
Staff Writer
above pouring a cup of
water for a coughing wit-
anci Grant hates to keep a
ness or answering her
jury waiting.
office phone when the
Elected to the circuit
clerk steps out. In her
court at age 32, Grant is
chambers, she sticks to
Oakland County's youngest judge.
an open door policy,
But as someone who puts in long
whereby staff are free to
days in court and long nights poring
.pop in at any time with a
over briefs, she is intimately aware of
question.
the value of time.
Fortunately for Grant,
And while there's never enough of
her
youth and down-to-
it, she tries to use it wisely.
earth
nature do not pre-
Just one year after taking office,
vent her from command-
Grant has whittled down her docket
ing respect. "I can only
\ -load from 1,100 active cases to 800,
assume that when people
earning her a reputation for efficiency.
She's also worked hard to make her who don't know me and
have not heard about my
courtroom an oasis of civility.
style and my preparation
"The. circumstances that bring
first walk into the court-
people into courtrooms in the first
room and see me sitting
place may not be particularly pleas-
up there, they may be
ant," says Grant, who makes it a
unsure," she says. "But I
daily goal to be a good listener and
think by the way I handle
to treat lawyers, witnesses and jurors
myself,
that there is no
with
respect.
"Why
should
you
/-
1 make that experience even more
issue of age."
Larry Kaluzny, an
unpleasant?"
attorney
who has argued
In fact, it was frustration with long
cases
before
Grant,
delays that motivated Grant to throw
agrees.
her hat in the ring last year.-
"She gives the
"I found myself explaining a lot
appearance of having
[to clients] why there had to be a
been around for a lot
delay and why we couldn't go to trial
longer than she has," he
that day and what was going on in
says. "For someone that
the court," she says. "It just got to
hasn't been on the bench
the point where I said, 'Instead of
that long she has great
complaining about it, why don't you
control of the court-
try to do something about it?'"
room."
Grant's caseload ranges from mur-
Attorney Howard
der trials to civil cases to child cus-
Arnkoff also praises
tody battles, and she tries to
Grant.
give each of them her full
Nanc i Grant:
"I think she's really
attention.
r
e
beyond
statu
bright,
she works hard and
"Whoever's sitting in front
years.
her
she's
pleasant.
She's the kind
of me — whether in my
of
judge
you
like
practicing
chambers or in court — I
in front of," he says.
take that particular case very seriously
Grant attributes her comfort in
when I'm dealing with it and then I
the courtroom to the fact that she
move on to the next one," says
put in eight years as a trial layryer.
Grant. "I think if I looked at the big
Plus, with Grant's father, Barry, a
picture I could be easily over-
longtime
probate court judge, the
whelmed."

JULIE WIENER

-

After a year
on the bench,
Oakland County's
youngest judge has
earned a reputation

bench is something of a family busi-
ness.
Despite the long hours her job
requires, Grant also squeezes time in
the day for the other family business:
her husband and two small children.
The family belongs -to a Reform tem-
ple, but for security reasons, Grant
did not want the temple's name — or
her children and husband — to
appear in the newspaper.
The fact that Grant is a mom

comes in handy sometimes at work,
says Oakland Circuit Judge Edward
Sosnick.
"Since she has a minivan, she
often volunteers to drive us all when
we go out to lunch," he laughs,
adding, "She works really hard, takes
her job really seriously and has a
really nice disposition. She's a good
colleague."

❑

1/2
1998

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