From Brooklyn to the Bench with Judge Nandi Campbell

Good morning. Welcome to the Overruled podcast brought to you by the Scott Vicknair Law Firm. This is David Vicknair along with my co-host Mr. Brad Scott. It’s a beautiful, hot, muggy, humid day in New Orleans. We no longer are having cool days, Brad. My hair’s frizzy as usual. And I’ve had about 73,000 coffees today. So we’re going to have an interesting show today. And it’s a good thing I have some energy because we have a great guest today, my good friend Nandi Campbell, Judge Nandi Campbell.

Nandi is now a District Court Judge in Criminal District Court in New Orleans Parish. Really excited to talk to Nandi and discuss her role as a judge, her experience learning as a practitioner, primarily in criminal defense before she became a judge, and also some of the different unique things about Nandi that I know being good friends with her. And I know it’s going to be a really interesting interview and that our listeners are going to enjoy it. Nandi, welcome to the Overruled podcast.

Thank you. I’m so excited to be here.

So Nandi, I was hoping, you’re such an interesting person. I know a lot about you, because we’ve become good friends over the years, primarily back from when you, I think you had started practicing with a good friend of mine, Tom Schlossman. Tom’s a great guy, lawyer, that you had kind of come up with and cut your teeth in and practicing criminal defense with, over with Jason before he became now the District Attorney. But I was hoping you could tell our guests a little bit about you, your background, and kind of where you were raised, grew up, and a little bit about you.

I love talking about myself. So let me see how I can wrap this up and not take up all the time. This is all about you, Nandi.

Thank you. That’s the only reason I’m here. I was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. My dad had a private school. He actually opened the first African-American private school in New York. And so I was born and raised in a community, that was a little tight knit. We lived and around each other and we were educated in the same school. And then I, grew up and went to public school to the first time in junior high school. And that’s what started my, what I like to call my knucklehead period.

We, via, peer pressure and, you know, the pressure to be cool. You know, I started to fight a lot, I started to cut school. I used to throw hooky parties in my mother’s brownstone and, you know, I call it my knucklehead period because, you know, nothing phased me back then. Luckily, I lived in New York, where I didn’t have to deal with gun violence. It was a different time back then. And so the biggest thing I had to deal with was, you know, a jump, a bunch of girls jumping on me, you know? And so when I was 14, I was arrested, for fighting. And that was the last fight I ever had, by the way. I tell people that was the final fight.

Spending two days in juvie kind of turned things around for me. I dropped out of high school. I ended up getting my GED. And after getting my GED, you know, something kind of clicked. You know, this was not a sustainable lifestyle, you know, kind of just walking around, fighting and just, you know, played, having parties. And, I ended up, starting my career in banking. I, I became a teller at the age of 16, at, going on 17. I was tall, so I was able to convince them that they should hire me. And I, I kind of rose up the ranks, in banking, not thinking about going to school at the time because I was rising up the ranks. So I was being promoted in banking. I became the head teller, and then I became a customer service rep, and then became the head customer service rep.

At some point, I went to the operations department and found my niche and so several other banks hired me. And I was making a good living and I was a great operations manager, in the banking industry. And then I went over and started working for the city of New York, in their teachers’ retirement systems. And I kind of rose up the ranks there, and ended up being the manager for the Walk-in Center. And that’s when I decided that I wanted to go to law school. I, I used to go and watch court cases on my lunch break, because I was bored and I didn’t have a lot of money. I was, you know, my money traveling. And so I would go, if you know, hot summers in New York, you, you know, you’re looking for a cool spot. So the cool spot near my job when I worked for teachers’ retirement systems was sitting in the courtroom.

And around that time, the Central Park jogger’s case was exploding. And I was, I was reading like, how could innocent people go to jail? Like, how could somebody who’s innocent confess to a crime? It was mind boggling to me. And so I decided to go to law school. And then I found out that in order to go to law school, I needed an undergrad degree. And at the time, I didn’t have an undergrad degree. I just had my GED. So I said, okay, I have to, I have to get my undergrad degree. And so I went to CUNY, Baccalaureate program. It’s a great program in New York, where you take classes and they also give you credit for your life experience.

So here I am, going to school Monday through Sunday, Sunday, they had classes on Sundays. Like taking all of these courses while working, and finally got my undergrad degree so that I can go to law school. I literally got my undergrad degree the same time I was taking my LSATs to go to law school. Because it wasn’t like I wanted to be a lawyer, I wanted to be a public defender. And it found out I needed an undergrad degree to do it. And that’s how I became a lawyer. That’s, I became a lawyer to become a public defender. And so I tell people, I am a reformed knucklehead, that, stumbled upon criminal defense, fell in love with it, passionate about it, to the point that it allowed me a great practice.

We had, at the honor of me and Mr. Vicknair. And now, the next level, becoming a judge.

I don’t know about the honor. I kind of think of myself as a knucklehead as well, Judge Campbell.

Not reformed, huh? Still a knucklehead.

So, and Brad knows Jason through practice as well, as a contemporary of his. And I just remember the time when he had his practice kind of rolling and you and Tom and all of y’all were practicing there and really, I think you and Tom and others were really learning the ends and outs of criminal defense on board. What, what did that time period in your practice mean to you? What lessons did you derive from that?

So it’s great. It’s so interesting. A lot of people don’t know this, but I came down here to join the Public Defender’s Office and after a year, they fired me.

Now we will we will need a part two to talk about that, didn’t we?

But I remember Jason was one of the, first, person to take me aside and say, hey, what do you need? Right? And a lot of people don’t know that I went out on my own first. And so after they fired me, I wasn’t going back to New York. And I started my practice. And then, you know, I was really trying hard to stay afloat. And, at that time, Jason needed some attorneys to come in and, and try some cases, you know? Which was great. So that’s where I met Tom Schlossman. And Jason was there, and I came and I can tell, you know, like I, I was hungry. I was ready to try some cases. I was ready to kick in some doors.

We had a DA at that time where, you know, you, you either had to try cases or, you know, you had clients who were looking at significant time because he was filing multi bills. And what I loved about Jason and his ability to, quote unquote, train time and Tom and I, is he gave us the cases and he basically said, let’s get busy. And so he gave us the ability and his confidence to be like, let’s get this case together and go in there and try it. And so a lot of times you have teachers who want to teach you by telling you, right? And so the difference is that Jason wanted to teach us by showing us, right? And so eventually, you become, what he used to call me, baby beast, which I hated, but, you know, you become kind of like this crazy person because you’re going in and you’re finding different techniques to try cases.

And I think that, the passion that led me to law school, converted in the courtroom. And so I, I’m not a great legal researcher and writer. I, I’m not really good at motion practice. But, but I am a great litigator. And I’m, I’m not afraid to say it that I, you know, part of, part of trying cases, helps the next client because, you know, nobody wants to get beat up seven days a week. And so we, we practice and, and we came ready. He’s taught me the art of being ready and calling ready for trial. And so those years were really, really great. Tried a lot of cases, both in state court and federal court, and got a lot of experience and a lot of exposure to how things work.

I think it’s an interesting point that you made, and Brad and I were at a legal conference last week, Nandi, and there was this interesting portion that they talked about and being a leader in your law firm or whatever, particularly role you have about these two ladders. One ladder being skills and one being confidence. And you and I, I just thought about that when you were talking about it, because really what you got through that period and what I’m hearing is Jason and you and the other attorneys there, the younger attorneys coming up were given the opportunity to learn those skills and build your confidence.

Absolutely. I remember one time we were, we picked the jury on an attempted murder case. Jason had just walked a young man on a murder case. And we sat there, Jason, Tom and I picked the jury on an attempted murder case. And we picked the jury and we were coming back the next day to do opening arguments. And, Jason had another case in Jefferson Parish. And he was like, oh, okay, y’all, y’all wrap this up. Me and Tom was looking at each other like, what? And so we had to like wrap up this case and we walked him. But when you have someone who’s skilled as a leader and willing to be patient with you about the craft, then you are, you are basically planting seeds that you know are going to grow, right?

If you’re telling people, you know, you can come work for me and just kind of throwing them out there, then you’re basically setting up somebody to fail. And I think that, and when I left Jason, I opened up my own firm and I started taking lawyers under me. It was important, for me, that I was engaged with them. It wasn’t just kind of take my calendar, take the file and do that. But engaged with them on a level where, you know, that they are taking care of their mental health, they’re taking care of their, they have a good work-life balance. And I think that’s also something I learned from Jason.

What do you wish, Nandi? If there was one thing that you could boil it down to, and I know there’s probably way more than one, but what is one or two things you wish that the public knew about what you do now as a criminal district court judge? So you are overseeing murder cases, raid cases, some of the most serious offenses in Orleans Parish come before you on a daily basis. Being in your, how long have you been in that role now? Can you talk about that a little bit? And maybe what you wish the public knew about what you did?

So I was selected November 2020, to Section G of Orleans Parish Criminal Court. G unit. We are the G unit. What I, what I would like the public. And by the way, one of the things I’m doing is I’m trying to find a consistent way to communicate with the public about what we’re doing in Section G. You’re doing a little bit of social media. I’m going to start with finding a way to get the docket on my website. I want people to be engaged with what’s going on in criminal district court. A lot of times the engagement stops at articles and people are not accustomed to kind of delving in and follow up on these cases. And so, I, I’m really trying to find a way to be as transparent as possible and also have information that the public can access, quicker or access easier, I should say.

I one would love people to understand that serving as a juror is a major role in the criminal justice system. And when we talk about or we’re upset with judges and we’re upset with DAs and we’re upset with defendants, or we scream and yell about the criminal justice system, and I want individuals to understand that a portion of our summonses for service get ignored, right? The portion where maybe we have a bad address. But the other portion that is like, yeah, you get the summons and you just, you don’t show up. And so I want people to understand that they are integral person in this, in this process. We cannot, this system stops without jurors, right? And so I, I always say when I do, jury orientation, you are the most important person in this system. Without you, it, it comes to a halt.

I would also like people, to, I used to say, I used to sit in courtrooms before I was an attorney, and I learned a lot. And I think that it behooves folks to come on down to Tulane and Broad and sit in the courtroom, just to get an idea of how things move, right? How the parties interact with each other. How you require all the parties to come together at one point to move something, right? I think a lot of times when we talk about the criminal justice system, we just get a glimpse based on an article, right? Or just get a glimpse based on a news report. And those are always reports, either the beginning part of a case or the ending part of the case, right? But there’s not a lot of conversation about what goes on before a case goes to trial or after the arrest.

And so, I’m always like, come on down, spend your lunch hour at Tulane and Broad. And then people will need to understand, I don’t know that everybody knows that, Nandi is a good point that mainly everything, unless, a child or a minor issue, is open to the public or if there’s a specific reason that court would be sealed, that people can just walk in to most federal and state courtrooms and in Louisiana and watch. Whether it’s.

And watch what? I recommend that. And the summer, but the courtrooms are air conditioned. That’s a huge, a huge plus. It also gives you a insight. It gives the insight to, to the moving pieces. And I think that’s something we are not thinking about when we’re looking, when we’re reading a news report. We only get in kind of little splashes. It’s important. Just most of the public, their interaction and their knowledge of the criminal justice system, it really does stop at the headlines. They watch the 5:00 PM, 6:00 PM news, they see the headlines, it’s, it’s the sensationalism of the topic. And after that, it’s the next news story that comes up.

Exactly. Stuff. And they don’t understand that this is an integral part of our society, part of our process, and they have to participate in this and be part of this. I think that awareness is extremely important. I know a lot of times the courts do things with students and in school and they’ll do, you know, trips over and they’ll bring classes, but we need more of that stuff.

I agree. I agree. So you know, if it goes to, because everybody is these days is social media. So we can get in front of them and start maybe making an impact in that regard.

I agree.

What is one thing, Nandi, that you like about being a judge that you’re surprised at or you didn’t expect maybe, when you decided to jump out of private practice and run to be a judge.

I’m really excited about the salary decrease. You know, I just kind of expected that joke to come. Look, when you, you pick up, you’ll be a public servant, there are things you give up. And that was one of the things. What I like the most is interacting with the public. Whether it’s, defendants, victims, when you come into Section G, our staff, we, we go out of our way to make sure everybody understands that we work for you, right? You know, I, I tell people, we, there’s this, this notion that if I’m not on the bench, I ask people to call me Nandi. And there’s a couple of reasons. I, I like my first name, my parents put a lot of thought into it. Nandi was a queen in, South Africa, she was Shaka Zulu’s mother. And so I love my first name. I also think that, you know, judges what I do. It’s not who I am, right? I am a member of your community who stood up and said, I want to be elected to serve. And so I don’t, I always want people to understand that we’re here, and I say, we, my unit, and we talk about this every time we meet, we are here to serve you, right? And so I don’t want people, to believe that this is some sort of, kingdom or, you know, like I’m, like I have this is a fiefdom and you’re here just to follow our rules and, and so we, we want to make sure our people understand that we work for them and everybody should be heard, right? And so that is important and that is something that I feel thankful that I’m able to do and able to understand that people are getting that message based on the feedback I get back.

You know, I get letters from jurors who always write me and, you know, say, oh, you know, thank you, you, really, we appreciate you, you took your time and explained things to us. We felt welcome in your court. I get letters from victims saying, you know, thank you for the process. I, I felt heard when I gave the victim impact statement. I get, letters from defendants, you know, I understand I have to go through this process, but I appreciate you calling me Mr. So and so and addressing me in a respectful manner. It doesn’t take a lot, of time, energy to be humane, no matter who you are, right? And so for me, because I represent the state, and because I know there’s this premise of innocent until proven guilty, we keep a level of respect in my section, so that nobody feels like they’re being excluded from the process. And that, I believe that’s my job. And I, I am thankful that I’m getting feedback so early on that people are getting that message.

Yeah, and I was going to ask you, you know, and I’m going to say this and if some of our listeners think I’m kissing your butt, I have no reason to. We don’t practice criminal law here. We’re just friends and I really respect you a lot. And you saying, we won’t have you, we won’t have you at Tulane and Broad. Get to know you. That’s like so true about you. And as a practitioner, you know, we get used to, people call it different things, judges’ syndrome, right? Somebody becomes a judge and everybody, you know, we go into court as an officer of the court, we’re just one piece of this system and we address the court as Your Honor and everybody address them as Your Honor. And at social events, there’s a prestige, of course, with being a judge. But that has not, having known you now before and then three years since you got elected, you’re the same person you were before you got elected. And nothing has changed. And I know in your heart that you really did this to make a difference and to serve. And there’s not a lot like you, so I really respect that about you. And you’re so real. There’s no, no pop in circumstance. What you see is what you get.

What do you think is your suit? If you could name one thing about you, Nandi, that’s your single superpower. Like this is your one thing you’re really good at. What, what would you say it is?

My, you know, my ability to connect, with, with anybody. My, my ability to see, the human in anyone, right? I, I, I think it has been helpful in my practice. I, I tell people that I practiced in New Orleans, not being from New Orleans, still having my Brooklyn accent, without, buying an ad or having to take out any ad, I built my practice. And the reason I was able to do that was my ability to connect with people.

I remember when I first moved here, I had, a judge, she, who, named, nameless, tell me that, you know, because I wasn’t from here and I didn’t go to high school here, you know, I was not going to be able to go far here, right? And so my superpower, I think, is to be able to connect, with just about anybody on a real authentic level, not, not a superficial level.

That not only impacts, right, your ability to get elected to be a judge, but it helped you build your practice because real relationships, relationships are many times the foundation of good marketing. And good.

Absolutely. People knowing what you’re good at, the skills that you have, and you being your authentic self. And I think that’s a great comment on that.

Now, I know you’re a huge traveler. You’ve traveled lots and lots of places to get away from the law because you’re way more interested in just being a judge. Tell us about maybe your favorite place you’ve ever traveled to in the world.

So it’s a tie right now. Colombia and Morocco, kind of neck and neck. They both topped Thailand. And for a number of reasons, where, that can’t be discussed on this podcast. So right now, it’s Colombia and Morocco. And, you know, I am, I am trying to learn Spanish. And so if I am successful, in getting my Espanol on, Colombia will be the number one place. Because of the price point, the people, the diversity of the people, you know, traveling from Bogota all the way down to Cartagena, and seeing the diversity amongst the people in Colombia. The food, the weather. It’s just, it’s just an amazing place.

And I think when you recently went there, Nandi, did you go, did you go by yourself?

I, I normally travel solo. There is something freeing about not having to, converse with people about the itinerary and getting things down packed. And so on, the most part, most of my trips, I travel solo. Occasionally, I will travel with a friend. I, and always, I always regret it and then just come back and travel solo again.

That was, that was my question because I found, I find it really interesting how much you do travel solo. And cool. And maybe it’s like one of those things I read an article, I guess it was a couple of months ago about challenging your comfort level and your conventional norms in travel. And how that will open your eyes to different cultures in the world when you’re kind of like by yourself in a different place and not in our little cocoons. Protective of America. So I was, I was curious for you to share what you like about it and the lessons that you think maybe travel has given you when you are traveling solo and vulnerable, right?

So, the, the interesting part about this is that I come from a large family, so I’m not accustomed to being solo. I’m not married, and I don’t have kids. So I like being alone. I, I test this, by going to dinner by myself first, going to a movie by myself first. Just kind of exploring this notion of being solo. Because we live in a country where it’s an odd thing to do anything solo. People will be like, oh, you, you a table for one? Still today, if I say, people like, huh? You know, it’s a little weird. It’s freeing. It’s freeing. It allows myself an opportunity to make friends. Because when you’re by yourself and you’re going on different tours, you’re forced to interact with different people. And so I, I meet a lot of people. I, I go solo on these trips, I come back with friends, lifelong friends.

And also gives me the ability to move, differently, you know, there, there is this, if I, if I went to Colombia and I’m only went for one day and decided I don’t want to stay here, I could just pick up and move to the next place. I don’t have to have a conference and a whole, a whole conference about whether or not we can do it. I, I think it gives me an opportunity to kind of meditate and focus on who I am and explore in a way where if I mess up, there’s nobody behind me to laugh and come back and tell y’all that I fell off the mountain.

You mentioned your family. How important has family been to your career as an attorney, and as a judge? And specifically, people may not know this is very interesting. I know your nephew is a star basketball player for the Arkansas Razorbacks. And I know that you had a lot of fun in the NCAA tournament just now, they made a long run, in the tournament. But tell us a little bit about that, your family, and what that means to you.

So I am one of ten.

Wow. There are six.

The show is Overruled with Scott Vicknair.
I am an aunt to, I think, now 18 nieces and nephews.
Wow.
I am a great aunt to two nephews and one great niece.
I love, love my family.
We’re all over the place.
I had a, I have a nephew who played for Kentucky and he went on to play for Oklahoma Thunder, and he’s now in, he’s overseas someplace.
He was in China.
Pre pandemic, just killing it.
And he’s now overseas, playing ball.
I think this is his, I don’t know how many years, but he’s doing amazing.
And then that’s, Kamani’s brother.
And Kamani just graduated from Arkansas.
And he’ll probably go overseas to play.
And he has a cousin, my nephew, Michael, who is now, I believe in Korea, playing.
And he’s been playing overseas for a number of years.
And, I have a niece who’s going to, probably be, maybe be the first, female president of this country.
She’s hugely smart and, just graduated from high school.

So my nieces and nephews, they’re just like, killing it in this world.
If, if no hints of any knuckleheads, thank God.
One of the reasons I said, I’m, I’m not gonna have any kids, cuz it’d be just my luck, I’ll have 10 knuckleheads in a row.
And so family is important to me.
I am, We’ll skip a generation.
But, well, yeah, who, who wants to try that out?
But I like being the aunt.
I, I am the aunt.
So my nieces and nephews come here and, you know, I, I consider myself the cool aunt, you know.
And, family is important.
We’re, we’re really close knit.
I, I don’t have any family that lives in New Orleans.
And that’s really interesting.
The hard part of running during the pandemic was, my family could not be here, during the election time.
I had my aunt who was here, when I qualified, but for the most part, they had to participate via Zoom.
And so I, I’m really family oriented.
Love it.
I’m Queen Auntie Nandi, and, they’re my world.
My nieces and nephews are my world.

That’s awesome.
And it’s funny because I was texting my brother last night, Nandi, and I said, you know, really failing with Violet and Brady.
I’m trying so hard to be the cool uncle and they just think I’m an idiot.
You might graduate one day.
You might graduate one day.
But it doesn’t, it doesn’t hurt you.
I mean, you’re the cool aunt, you live in New Orleans.
It’s a pretty cool place to lure them to come visit, right?

That is helpful.
I, I remember when I first moved here, I had my nieces and nephews here for Thanksgiving and they had to be about, or maybe ages from six to nine.
And I remember taking them on Bourbon Street during the day, during the day, and taking a picture of them under the Hustler sign and sending it.
Sending it to their parents.
And my siblings were like, what is going on here?
But, you know, it’s just a little something of livening it up a little bit.
But it doesn’t hurt living in New Orleans.
I, I get, I get them here frequently.
And, and I appreciate, you know, the ability.
Look, I, I, I understand that one of the reasons I want to be the cool auntie is that I’m going to get older and I’m going to need someone to help me.
And I realized I’m interviewing them in the process of who I’m going to leave my money to, because I need to identify the one who’s going to take care of me when I’m old.

There we go.
You got to interview process.
You got a plan.

All right.
So I’m gonna run through a couple of other like spitfire questions with you here, Nandi.
What is your favorite restaurant?
Any cuisine in New Orleans?

Juan’s Lower Garden District.

Okay.
Specific.
Because, yeah.

All right.
I’m with you. All right, next one.
Being from Brooklyn, I know you know good pizza.
And I don’t know if you knew this about me, but I’m a social media influencer as it relates to pizza review now.
Not even close.
I did not know this.
In my own mind, Nandi.
Look, and once again, I look like an idiot and I go around.
I will follow you because remember, you get, you told me about the best food I had in, Tula.

Ah, that’s right.
So I’m with you.
But I can’t take credit for that.
That was actually Brandon and JD, the Tula mates.
They know all the good, the good spots in Tula.
What is your favorite pizza that you’ve had down in New Orleans?

Pizza Delicious.

There we go.
All right.
I think we gave him an 8.7, 8.8.
That’s one of my favorites too.

What is your favorite book?

The Autobiography of Malcolm X and The Color Purple.

Okay.
And last thing I had for you, Nandi, is what if anything, do you miss about private practice?
Don’t go through the first thing we talked about earlier.
When you’re a judge, you have cannons.
You have to follow them and, your parents, there’s certain things you can’t do.
Like I can’t discuss politics.
I can’t join political groups.
Like, you know, so there are these dues and don’ts.
And so I kind of miss the ability, to engage, people in certain ways.

Right, right.

Okay.
And last one, I’m, I had one I forgot about.
I want you to give us your prediction for the Saints this season.
Win total.

I’m, I’m sorry, y’all.
That’s the Saints.
I’m getting nervous.
Come on.
I ain’t want to have to admit this, but I don’t know anything about football.

All right.
All right.
I thought you were about to hit us with like four wins.
I, I really, when you like, they’re gonna win.
That’s the best I can say.
Do you think they’re gonna have a good season?
What do you think?

I, I don’t know.
I wouldn’t even know how to gauge that.
Look, when I came down here, they said, look, you, you have to find a way to cheer on the Saints.
So I bought me a jersey, I have some black and gold.
I represent.
I’m, I’m here to represent.
But don’t ask me about anything in the game.
I don’t know who the point guard is.

The point guard.
Well, we, we jump.
We now you’re jumping from basketball, Nandi.
We got a point, we got a quarterback.
I’m trying to explain to you, I, I don’t, I couldn’t even tell you what was going on the field.

Now, ask me about the Pelicans.
Like, you can dissect the, What are your, what are your, let’s just jump, jump there then.
What are your, expectations for next year with the Pelicans, Zion, like give us your thoughts.

I don’t know.
I think that, I, I love New Orleans.
But because we’re not a basketball city, I think we’re a little too hard, on our team.
And we just want to win, win, win, win, win.
And as we can see with the divin’ nuggets, you have to, you have to be, commit long term.
You got to have a little suffering.
You got to commit long term.
And so I, I think that, the owner wants to commit to be a basketball city.
I, I think we have to, as fans, have to commit to doing it.
Not just when they win.
We got to take the good and the bad, right?

And so I hope that, Zion is young, and I have a lot of concerns about the pressure on these young kids.
Prime time pressure.
And I couldn’t imagine being in his shoes, when he was drafted and, and all the pressure that came with it.
And so, it’s hard.
It’s hard.

No doubt about it.
I saw something yesterday, Nandi.
Jackson Hayes, just, it was like, happy birthday, Jackson.
He just turned 23.
Like, I feel like I’ve been watching him play for four or five years and he’s only 23 years old.

I know.
Thinking back to when I was 23, just starting law school.
I, I was even more of an idiot than I am now.

No, no.
And also, you know, I think about when I was 23, and it was not, we social media adds another layer that we don’t think about because not only are you in the public eye, everything you do gets related to the public really quickly now, right?
So there’s no time to digest anything.
It’s just like, oh, you fell, and then it’s on the social media two seconds later.
And so that’s a lot of pressure.
And I, I think that we, we have to step back and I think this goes for almost every sport and, and take a look about what, what’s going on and, and how we are maybe hampering.
Not we, or just kind of the leagues.
What are they doing, for the mental health of these kids and preparing them for the transition.
Like, my nephew, they were, they were on him when he was really young.
And but for my sister, being really on top of, taking care of his mental health and him understanding this process.
I think it could have had an impact on him.
So I can’t, I can’t imagine what it’s like to be a Zion, you know?
And I think we have to step back and say, hey, the best way to build this team up is to make sure we have a balanced mentally well started team.

Yeah.
We forget how young these professional athletes really are.
I mean, they’re huge guys, they look like grown men, but I mean, still they’re very young, mentally, you know, the things they’ve experienced through life.
A lot of times they’re not prepared for these things.

Not at all.
We got to keep that in, keep that in check for sure.
And, and most of them are the breadwinners of their family.
So we don’t talk about that pressure also, right?
And, and this pressure starts at a young age.
They’re recruiting kids at the age of like three or four, you know?
Like I, I think there’s, if you listen to Shaquille O’Neal’s mother, she did a great job of preparing him for this, right?
And that’s why he has built this business empire and managed to, have this long standing effect because she had prepared him for all of this.

Yeah, and I think people don’t understand that, right?
Is like the pressure of financial success.
And it’s like, you try to say, oh, it’s a first world problem.
It’s not really a first world problem.
There is a realistic thing with these kids, that they get all this money and then it’s not, it’s not, okay, they’re fine all financially, but there’s a lot of pressure with that.
And then the people start the askers start coming to take.
And that’s the family depending upon them.
And they’re not, they’re so young to be dealing with that plus the social media stuff, plus the pressure.
And then we just left off that everything they do at that age, they’ve got hundreds of thousands of people watching them do it.
So it is a, it’s a constant.

No doubt.
We don’t really think about all that.
But, Nandi, thank you so much for being with us today.
I know you’re busy as a judge.
Both things.
You made some time.
You made some time for us.
I really we really enjoyed discussing all this awesome topics that we had with you.
Thank you for the service that you’re giving to the community as a judge, and all of the stuff you’re doing with the vision G check, Judge Campbell out, division G criminal district court in Orleans Parish.
Thanks again for being with us on Overruled.

Thank you, I appreciate being here.
See you guys later.
Thanks, Nandi.
Take care.

All right, thank you all for listening.
I think this has been a really interesting show, Brad.
And one of the key takeaways I took from listening to a lot of the things Nandi said, is that her, her ability to connect with people.
And I know that about her because I know her, I’ve been knowing her for years now, and she’s just one of those really authentic people that when you get to meet her, you just kind of like her instantly.
And you feel this connection because she’s just who she is.
There’s no real, no real, front or anything like that with her.

What about some of your takeaways?
Her journey, you know, as she said, from being a knucklehead as a kid, getting arrested, and just having that opportunity to go in and just sit in a court, just to get out there, get in the air condition, basically.
And how that led her to want to become a lawyer and then ultimately a judge.
That path that she moved through, it was just, it was fascinating.
I loved to hear those kinds of stories.
And she’s also just unique coming from Brooklyn, such a big family, and then up down in New Orleans, and then we’re really lucky to have her on the bench here.

So thanks again to Nandi for being our guest today.
Thank you.
Thank you all for listening.
It’s been a great show.
This has been the Overruled podcast, brought to you by the Scott Vicknair Law firm.
Thanks for listening, and we look forward to talking to you next time.
Take care.

Scott Vicknair, injury attorneys, we fight for the win.
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