Judy Sheindlin is handing her gavel to her son and stepping away from the bench for good.
The 83-year-old television judge said in an interview published Thursday that “Judy Justice” will end October 22 and that she will not appear on camera again. She will instead produce “Adam’s Law,” a new syndicated small-claims court show starring her 58-year-old son, Adam Levy.
“I have a lot of other things of interest,” Sheindlin said in the interview.
“I don’t want to do hair and makeup anymore, but I still want my message to get out there,” she added.
Sheindlin expressed full confidence in Levy’s ability to fill her shoes. “There aren’t a lot of people who can carry a half hour on their own unscripted,” she told the outlet. “He has what it takes.”
Levy, who shares three children with wife Lori Leichtman, told the publication he appreciates his “tough cookie” mother. He recalled her blunt parenting style with a verbatim example: “‘If you want baseball cards, don’t ask me for money.'”
The mother-son dynamic shaped Levy’s career path in direct ways. After he graduated from Hofstra Law School, he turned down a job offer to pursue ski instructing and take a year off. His mother was “not happy,” he shared. When the Suffolk County district attorney’s office called their home, Sheindlin answered and took control: “Hi, this is Adam Levy’s mom. And yes, he’s going to take that job.”
Levy served dual terms as district attorney in Putnam County, New York, and worked in private practice before joining Prime Video’s “Tribunal Justice” in 2023. That role lasted three seasons.
Sheindlin assessed his readiness with characteristic directness. “Maybe eight years ago he wasn’t ready,” she said. “He’s ready now.”
The family legal dynasty extends to the next generation as well. Levy’s daughter Sarah Rose currently appears as a law clerk on “Judy Justice,” which began streaming in 2021.
Sheindlin’s own onscreen journey began in 1996 when she made her television debut as a judge. “Judge Judy” ran for 25 seasons as a syndicated program before ending in 2021. The courtroom series won her three Daytime Emmy Awards, with a fourth coming for “Judy Justice.”
Sheindlin is one of two children born to Sheindlin and her ex-husband Ronald Levy; the couple divorced in 1976. Sheindlin married Jerry Sheindlin in 1978, split and divorced in 1990, then remarried him in 1991.
The transition marks a definitive endpoint for one of television’s longest-running personalities. “I don’t have to prove anything else. I did it,” Sheindlin gushed to People. She noted that she doesn’t “think that I’ve ever been this content before.”
“Adam’s Law” is scheduled to premiere September 14, picking up the small-claims format Sheindlin popularized over nearly three decades on American television.
