Log in

Meet the Judge

Gould trades banking for legal profession

Posted 12/3/19

Paradise Valley Municipal Court Judge Terry A. Gould started his professional life in business but at 38 decided to return to school to study law.

You must be a member to read this story.

Join our family of readers for as little as $5 per month and support local, unbiased journalism.


Already have an account? Log in to continue.

Current print subscribers can create a free account by clicking here

Otherwise, follow the link below to join.

To Our Valued Readers –

Visitors to our website will be limited to five stories per month unless they opt to subscribe. The five stories do not include our exclusive content written by our journalists.

For $6.99, less than 20 cents a day, digital subscribers will receive unlimited access to YourValley.net, including exclusive content from our newsroom and access to our Daily Independent e-edition.

Our commitment to balanced, fair reporting and local coverage provides insight and perspective not found anywhere else.

Your financial commitment will help to preserve the kind of honest journalism produced by our reporters and editors. We trust you agree that independent journalism is an essential component of our democracy. Please click here to subscribe.

Sincerely,
Charlene Bisson, Publisher, Independent Newsmedia

Please log in to continue

Log in
I am anchor
Meet the Judge

Gould trades banking for legal profession

Posted

Name: Terry A Gould

Where I live: Approximately one and a half miles from the Courthouse.

Where I attended school: B.S. from Miami University (Oxford, Ohio); One year of studies toward a MBA at Washington University (St. Louis, MO); and J.D. Cum Laude from St. Louis University School of Law.

How long I’ve worked in the legal profession: 38 years. I am licensed to practice in Arizona, Missouri and Wisconsin.

Why I decided to pursue a career in the legal profession: In the various businesses I worked with after collage, I worked closely with attorneys. That caused me to realize how useful a law degree would be, no matter what course my businesses took me. However, I did not take action on this until the evening discussed in my answer to Question 10.

Why I volunteer for the local municipal court: Paradise Valley is a very special town with many talented volunteers. It is an honor to be one of the few attorneys allowed to be a Paradise Valley Judge. Because we volunteer, we are here because we want to be and not for a paycheck. A judge can help society in so many difference ways, I doubt any qualified person would not want to do this, given the opportunity.

What is the most rewarding part of being a judge: Finding ways to make a positive difference in someone’s life. Most of the people we see have an opportunity to make better decisions and by doing so, improving their lives. I see our first job as trying to change decision making behavior for the better. When we can do that we might even save a life someday by preventing the next red light from being run, or by the way we preside over an Order of Protection.

What I like to do in my spare time? Investment management. Since I was 14 years old, investment banking and the stock market have been a major interest. My first job out of collage was as an investment analyst for the largest bank in the 8th Federal Reserve District. Later, at about 26, I was involved in starting a bank in a suburb of Chicago, which was sold nine years later to a major downtown bank to become a branch. It is still a branch today.

Who was the biggest influence in your life? Why? Good question; but I would have to choose two university professors. The first was Frederick Amling, the Chair of the Finance Department in the Business School at Miami University (Ohio) and the other was Pete Salsich, an attorney and the McDonnell Professor of Justice in American Society, Emeritus professor of law at St. Louis University School of law.

While I was taking courses from Dr. Amling, he was writing his first book “Investments. An Introduction to Analysis and Management.” I had the opportunity to read the galley proofs and be given a prepublication edition. This book went on to become a standard text for many university business schools.

Over the years Dr Amling wrote additional books on finance and banking. Dr Amling became Dean of the Business School at the University of Rhode Island; and senior advisor to the Ph.D. program in the business school at George Washington University. What I learned from Dr Amling helped guide my careers and my life.

Professor Pete Salsich, Jr. is probably the most caring attorney I ever met. Most of his courses were in criminal law and exploring the relationship of land use laws to affordable housing and urban redevelopment. He is the former chair of the American Bar Association’s Commission on Homelessness and Poverty. Pete worked very closely, as a volunteer with Legal Aid, and his students did also, both during and after law school.

Pete Salsich opened my eyes to the fact the legal profession can have a profound influence by doing the right thing. ne night, as a student in one of his criminal law classes, I was doing a ride-along with a St. Louis County police officer. I was to observe how he handled matters and people during his entire night shift.

About half way through the shift a call went out to “All cars in the vicinity of … . Shots fired.” We responded and were the first car on the scene. I was not allowed to leave the car, but I recognized the house. It was the home of a girl I had dated. I was able to follow the case all the way through. It made a major impression and learning experience with regard to the criminal justice system.

The PV court is one of busiest courts in the state. There is no question what I learned from Professor Salsich still influences me today and hopefully makes me a better judge.

What advice would you give to someone interested in pursuing a legal profession? Do it. I was 36 years old when I went to law school. The prior year, I had sold the bank in Chicago and was wondering what I was going to do next when I met a friend at a cocktail party who was an M.D. When I asked what was new, he responded, “I am going to law school.” After exploring why and how, I said, “I have thought about being a lawyer for a long time”. He said, “When are you going to do it, when you are 65?” I responded, “Maybe”. Then thought of the saying by Richard M DoVos’, “The only thing that stands between a man and what he wants from life is often merely the will to try it and the faith to believe that it is possible.” I had used that thinking before in starting the bank. So, I thought about it the rest of the evening. As my wife and I were leaving the party, I asked her what she thought about the idea. She was supportive, so I did it. No matter what it is, if you really want it, do it. “People with goals succeed because they know where they’re going.” Earl Nightingale.