A Grace Note

     The final footnote in the opinion of Magistrate Judge Joan Glazer Margolis in Lawson v. Berryhill, 3:17 CV 247 (JGM) (D.Conn.2018):

After having had the great privilege of serving as a U .S. Magistrate Judge for more than thirty-three years and now facing retirement in approximately five weeks, this decision is the last Social Security ruling to be filed by this judicial officer. This Ma gistrate Judge estimates that she has filed at least 350 rulings on Social Security matters, starting with one filed in March 1985, just one month after she began this position. This judicial officer has never lost sight of how critical these Social Security files are to the parties involved, and few other rulings issued in federal court have the profound impact on the parties as these do. 

Starting in August 2002, this Magistrate Judge has had the great assistance of her highly talented career law clerk, Monica Watson Cucchiarelli, in approximately 150 of these Social Security rulings. Ms. Watson’ s contribution to the development of Social Security law in this district has been immeasurable, and there a re few lawyers as knowledgeable, and talented, about these matters than she is. The only reason this Magistrate Judge has remained relatively current with her Social Security docket, which began to soar in 2009  nd continues to do so at a dramatically escalating pace, is due to the diligence, perseverance, and wisdom of Ms. Watson, who consistently ga e up her evenings and weekends to work on these files. The Social Security bar, the District Court, and this judicial officer in particular, owe Ms. Watson their deepest gratitude.