Atlanta judge brings background to bench

By ERRIN HAINES

The judge said she had been reluctant to pursue TV.

ATLANTA — As a girl, Penny Brown had two role models: her mother and Perry Mason.

Growing up fatherless in the small-town South, Reynolds watched the tough attorney on television from her living room couch — which was also her bed. She figured that becoming a lawyer, and eventually a judge, would help her and her single mother overcome the stigma of being poor.

“I saw being a judge as a career where no one could question my integrity,” Reynolds said. “Everything I did was to right all the wrongs in her life.”

Penny Brown Reynolds, now a judge in Fulton County State Court, will soon star in “Family Court With Judge Penny,” drawing on her legal and personal background to address fighting couples, reckless parents and child custody issues.

“Family issues touch everyone in America,” she said. “These are going to be the cases that matter.”

Judge Reynolds is the third woman from the Atlanta legal community to make the jump into reality courtroom television, following in the footsteps of Glenda Hatchett — who formerly presided over Fulton County’s juvenile court — of “Judge Hatchett” and former Fulton County prosecutor Nancy Grace, who stars in a justice-themed debate show bearing her name on CNN.

The half-hour “Family Court” has been syndicated in nearly 30 markets across the country, including stations from Fox Television, Sinclair Broadcast Group, Hearst-Argyle Television, CBS Television, Tribune Broadcasting and the CW Plus Groups. The show, co-produced by Program Partners and 44 Blue Productions, is being filmed in Los Angeles and is scheduled for a fall launch.

Judge Reynolds’ Perry Mason fantasy didn’t include having her own show, but her appearance on “The Dr. Phil Show” in February 2007 set her on the path to Hollywood. The judge was invited on the show as an expert on postnuptial agreements, and was such a hit that Dr. Phil offered Judge Reynolds her chance at fame with her own show.

Other offers also poured in, but at the time, Judge Reynolds said she was reluctant to pursue television.

“All I wanted to be was a judge,” she said. “I didn’t want to do anything that would appear demeaning to the legacy I was trying to create for myself, my mother and my grandchildren. It was not something I pursued because I wanted to maintain the integrity of wearing that robe.”

Judge Reynolds said she thinks she can do that with “Family Court,” based on the nature of the cases.

Like the lawyers before her who went on to TV prominence, Judge Reynolds brings an approach that blends straight talk and creative sentencing. She said her show will also be a balance of entertainment and empathy.

“You need somebody to be straight, but not humiliate or degrade,” she said. “There’s a back story to every situation. I’m the person who wants to hear that story.”