MetNews profiles PJ Gilbert

The MetNews has a Personality Profile for Person of the Year PJ Gilbert here.

• Gilbert says he is “not really an awards guy.” As it is, however, he has been the recipient of a long list of them, including the Los Angeles Bar Association’s Outstanding Jurist Award, the Beverly Hills Bar Association’s Award for Judicial Excellence, the Los Angeles County Law Library’s Beacon of Justice Award, the Appellate Justice of the Year for the Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles. But he keeps the Witkin Medal displayed in his chambers because Witkin, now deceased, had been a friend and major influence on how he fashions his own writings.
• Gilbert says that his own approach is to provide an opening in an opinion that tells “what the case is about” which “informs the reader” whether he or she “should bother to read the thing.” His introductions are characteristically pithy and enticing.
• He adds that he plans to retire this year. “I think 50 years is enough,” and “it’d be good to give other people a chance,” Gilbert says. “It’s beyond my ken to even believe that I would be on the court this long.”