Adam Levy has received plenty of blunt advice over the years from his mother, famed TV jurist Judy Sheindlin – known around the world as no-nonsense Judge Judy.
So when Levy got the call to take the family seat on the TV bench for his own syndicated court show, "Adam's Law," (premiering Sept. 14, check local listings
), the former prosecutor received on-brand counsel from Mom, the show's creator and executive producer."She told me, 'Don’t screw this up,'" Levy, 57, tells USA TODAY.
It was the same sage advice Sheindlin, 83, gave her son − whom she shares with ex-husband Ronald Levy − before his first TV judge gig on Prime Video's "Tribunal Justice," on which he served alongside fellow judges, Tanya Acker and Patricia Di Mango.
But the stakes are
even higher in "Adam's Law," with Levy sitting in TV judgment solo, just as his mother did in her superstar-making role in the syndicated courtroom classic,"Judge Judy," which ran from 1996 to 2021.
"She liked the idea of retiring after 30 years and passing the gavel onto me," Levy says. "If there's one thing people need to know about Judy, she doesn't blow smoke up anyone's backside, including mine. If she didn't think I could do this on my own, she'd just say, 'Not yet.'"
More than confident, Sheindlin, now judging on Season 4 of Prime Video's "Judy Justice," is the creator and executive producer of "Adam's Law." Unlike his famous mother, who served as a New York City family court judge, Levy never sat on the bench in real life. But he learned the law as an attorney and by serving two terms as New York's Putnam County district attorney.
"I was never a judge, but I was always very good at cross-examination. That's my forte," says Levy.
And he bears a clear physical resemblance to his mother, especially in the eyes.
"That's what she says too," says Levy. "She says, 'You don't have to be as good as me, because you have my eyes, and that's what's going to carry you along.'"
Growing up with Judge Judy? 'Ask my therapist'
Levy got used to Judge Judy's famously imperious stares growing up in New York in a blended family of five children with Sheindlin and her second husband, Jerry Sheindlin, a former New York Supreme Court judge who briefly presided over “The People’s Court.”
"I'm very familiar with those looks she gave from the bench. She practiced on me for a long time," says Levy. "When people ask, 'What was it like growing up with Judge Judy?' I say, 'Ask my therapist. We've been going over it for decades.' I'm joking. She loved us. But she was tough. At home is where I learned the first rules of cross-examination. I was the victim of these."
Sitting on the bench in "Adam's Law," Levy sometimes throws down a famed Judge Judy-ism: "I know when you're lying when your mouth moves." As a teenager, Levy was on the receiving end of that line.
"That's from my childhood," says Levy. "I was always trying to find an exit ramp in discussions with her. But there was always a follow-up question."
Like "Judge Judy," “Adam’s Law” features real cases and real people, with Levy presiding over disputes brought before him in the familiar TV-court format.
Levy doesn't need ice packs in his 'Adam's Law' robe
The solo judge has been graced with an upgrade in the all-important wardrobe department. On "Tribunal Justice," his judge's robe was polyester, which ran hot on the Los Angeles set, requiring ice vests under his robe. "I would go through an ice vest every two cases," says Levy.
Not this time, thanks to his boss.
“Judge Judy said to me, ‘We’re going to elevate. We’re going to move from polyester to silk.' And it's much cooler. Who knew?” Levy says, adding that his robe doesn't have any flair like his mother's famous lace collar trim. “I don’t have frills, but I don’t have ice packs either. Thank you, mother."
He still hasn't settled on one catchphrase from the bench. But he loves to quote TV shows and movies such as "My Cousin Vinny" and throws around the term "clown."
"I'm not calling them a clown," Levy says. "I'm just saying that they do all the things a clown does."
The father-of-three grown children keeps the family business going by working with his daughter Sarah Rose Levy, 28, who appears on her grandmother's "Judy Justice" as an on-air law clerk. On "Adam's Law," Sarah Rose Levy works in the control room and is the one voice who can get her father to wind up his speeches from the bench.
"My daughter went to law school and took the bar exam. She's the only one who can tell me, 'Land the plane, dad. Enough,'" says Levy. "In the past, when I would get that from an executive producer, I would say, 'Nope. Not done yet.' But I never say 'nope' to my daughter."
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Judge Judy had 4 tough words for son Adam Levy when passing the TV gavel
