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We raised the issue with retiring Chief Magistrate Sharon Frazer yesterday. As she gets ready to exit in a few weeks, she lamented the fact that the woman she'd groomed to be her successor, Senior Magistrate Aretha Ford, was passed over with nothing more than a letter.

Cherisse Halsall:
"How do you see the fact that your colleagues seem to keep getting passed over for upward mobility?"

Sharon Frazer, Chief Magistrate
"I find that to be very unfortunate because, from the time I assumed office, this office, this desk, Senior Magistrate Ford, I have been pulling her along with me in terms of full succession planning, um, since unlike other jurisdictions there is no guarantee that from the government you will be considered for the upper bench. So at the very least those magistrates who are here, at least they should have the expectation that at some point in time, they can be considered to head the magistracy if it is they can't look forward to being considered for the upper bench."

Cherisse Halsall:
"It's about 14 senior Magistrates, correct? If they don't have upward mobility what happens to them then?"

Sharon Frazer, Chief Magistrate
"Well, that is the million dollar question, um, I, like I said it is unfortunate. I feel that even at this level there should be some incentive to magistrates who are coming that, from being a magistrate, um, because there have been some, as, in the case of Magistrate Ford, she was in fact a lay magistrate. She went, she qualified herself and then she became a magistrate and then later on she was then elevated to the senior magistrate and the more senior of the three senior magistrates. So the expectation, I feel the legitimate expectation is that after you would have served 20 years on the bench because I believe it is about 20 years that she has if I am not mistaken that at least due consideration has been given to the only next stage that magistrates have to look forward to."