Tell me about life growing up. What was your family life like? How did you end up in the military?
I am the middle child of five children, born and raised in Harlem, New York City. I was raised by a single mother who was a state mental health care worker for children. One of her main goals for her own children were to make sure they were educated. She allowed for us to have both a public school and private school education. I was working at McDonalds (at the time) and walking down the street one day there was a recruiter. And he called me over and he showed me a video of people going airborne and doing different things as part of the military, and I volunteered for the United States Army.
How did you become inspired to enter law?
I had just gotten my license and I borrowed my sister’s car, and I was sitting in the car in the driver’s seat, parked. A car rolled by us, and then it backed up. I didn’t know it at the time but it was a plain clothes police officer, and he looked at me and said, “Do you have a problem?” So I said, “What are you talking about?” Then he said, “Well if you have a problem, I’ll solve it for you.” I looked at him, and thought twice; maybe I should not say anything, but I wanted to do something. I wanted to be able to deal with the situation because I thought it was unfair. That’s when I decided to become a lawyer, because I thought a lawyer would know what to say. And that propelled me. The person who encouraged me to get into private practice was my wife, Kathy.
Your wife Kathy King is a Supreme Court Justice. Tell me about your path to law, and some of your greatest achievements.
I attended Antioch School of Law in Washington, D.C., came to New York, got my first legal job six-seven months after graduation and I worked for a judge by the name of Milton Tingling, who was a Civil Court judge in New York County. Thereafter I was hired as a Civil Court Judge’s law clerk for Randolph Jackson in Kings County. He was elevated to The Supreme Court, and I was his law secretary for one year. After that I went into private practice in 1988. Since then I have represented people in real estate related litigation, tenant associations, housing development fund corporations, a myriad of people throughout the borough of Brooklyn.
Why are you a better candidate than your opponents?
You have to look at the experience of the person and what their philosophy is. My philosophy as a judge is 1) you have to learn how to listen to what the person is telling you, 2) you have to try to give them a fair shot, and 3) you have got to give them a just result. You need to use sensitivity as well as knowledge of the law, and I think I have a lot of that.