In Blawg Review #204, I quipped that lawyers don’t do well in a street fight. Thanks to Judge Ian Richards, I stand corrected. Check out this TMZ video:

The video is a little grainy, so let me give you the play-by-play, after the jump.

At the beginning of the clip, the female witness is testifying against a male defendant. The defendant attacks the witness, and Judge Richards “left the bench” and stood in front of the witness while cops tried to subdue the defendant. Then, the judge helped in “subduing” the defendant.

Judge Richards is a newly elected judge to the Broward County bench:

Ian Richards is one of the most unlikely people ever to be elected judge in the history of Broward County. He knows that his upset victory over incumbent County Court Judge Catalina Avalos has deeply upset the old courthouse crowd.

And he says he wants to focus on healing. If that’s not possible, he offers a bit of advice.

“Get over it,” he says in his lilting English accent, quickly adding, “Oh, don’t write that. It will only make it worse.” …

At 33 years old, Richards is young and inexperienced. The guy still owes $20,000 in student loans.

This guy is my new hero.

The JAABlog interviewed Judge Richards shortly after his electoral victory:

He aims to remember the human element in all of this, adding there is a reason why we have people administering justice instead of robots or computers which can be programmed with facts and data. He does not “want to hang around in the clouds,” and will stay closely tied to the community.

Well, that’s one campaign promise it looks like he is keeping.

Badass Judge Tackles Suspect — In Court!!! [TMZ]
Courthouse Surprise [New Times]
A CONVERSATION WITH IAN RICHARDS [JAABlog]