I had a client pleading guilty in felony court last week; the sitting judge was out, and retired judge Mike Wilkinson was visiting, and took the plea.

Wilkinson talks really fast, and as I was listening to his plea admonishments it occurred to me that to my client, fluent in English but not in Legalese, the judge must sound something like this:

(If I had more time and more talent I’d make a movie to show judges what they sound like to the people appearing before them.)