Judge Gilbert Nadeau steps down after 20 years on the bench

Before a packed courtroom filled with colleagues, family and local officials, presiding Fall River District Court Judge Gilbert J. Nadeau Jr. officially retired after 20 years on the bench.

FALL RIVER — Before a packed courtroom filled with colleagues, family and local officials, presiding Fall River District Court Judge Gilbert J. Nadeau Jr. officially retired after 20 years on the bench.

“There is really no better job. It’s demanding in a court like Fall River or any of our district courts. You try to dispense justice, work with people in a setting that’s really a volume business and it’s not easy to walk that line to do what you need to do and do it fairly,” said Nadeau.

A former Bristol County assistant district attorney, Nadeau was appointed as a district court judge in May 2003.

Retired judge and current Fall River Corporation Counsel Joseph Macy said that he and Nadeau go back many years and were appointed judges on the same day, noting it was on April Fool’s Day.

“It only looks easy to be a presiding. Judge Nadeau’s calm demeanor, his confident expression of what is right and his fair leadership has certainly left the court better than he found it and you can’t ask that much more of any leader,” Macy said.

Pamerson Ifill, a regional supervisor of Probation Services, spoke of Nadeau’s ability to speak to probation officers in “a humanistic way with a level of jurisprudence,” and his efforts to make sure the courthouse represent the community it serves.

Nadeau is not just a “judge’s judge,” said Judge Katherine Hand.

“He’s a community judge, he’s an attorney’s judge and he’s a litigant’s judge,” said Hand.

Nadeau said what makes the job worthwhile are his courthouse colleagues.

“There’s no better group of people, no better group of fellow employees. It’s the hallmark of our department. People learn from each other, they support each other. It was a revelation when I came on the bench to see that was the case,” said Nadeau.

Email Jo C. Goode at jgoode@heraldnews.com