Supervising Judge John Lansden takes prudent approach to life and the bench

Queens Housing Court Supervising Judge John Lansden. Eagle file photo

By Rachel Vick

Queens Housing Court Supervising Judge John Lansden has the law in his blood, but credits a strong work ethic with his rise in the court’s ranks.

The great grandson of a Tennessee Supreme Court justice and the son of a lawyer, Lansden says being largely raised by a single parent shaped his work ethic.

“I always knew that the bench was where I wanted to end up,” he said. “I think it happened earlier than anticipated but I love the Housing Court and what I do.”

“I believe in the value of hard work,” he added. “Nothing comes easy — nothing worth getting comes easy. I achieve success through hard work. I was never the smartest kid in the class, I met success because I worked hard.“

Part of the work on the bench that he loves is presiding over trials and the different ways attorneys argue their cases.

Lansden says that in the right circumstance — if the attorneys are well prepared and have a plan — “trials can be works of art.”

“The way attorneys get from point A to point B in complying and proving their case — that's where their own individual touch comes out,” he said. “But regardless of approach or style, whether they are well prepared [with] a plan, a clear idea of what they're trying to prove, is really what the court is looking for.”

Lansden grew up in Marble Hill and graduated from St. John's School of Law in 1991, securing a position with a law firm shortly after being admitted to the bar during a time where he said many young lawyers were struggling to find job.

Lansden shifted to life as a court employee in 2001 after becoming a court attorney to Hon. Timmie Elsner. His first foray into the judiciary came with his appointment to the Housing Court bench in 2003 — he went on to sit in nearly every borough’s court before becoming a supervising judge in 2007.

The challenges of being a Housing Court judge, he said, reflect the responsibility of any judge to balance facts but with the added pressure of holding the fate of a person’s basic need for shelter.

“It is challenging to maintain your objectivity because your job is to be objective and apply the law fairly to both sides, but I think it's a challenge the Housing Court judges meet very well on a daily basis,” he said.

“Simply remembering that while this may be the 20th or 30th [case] that I was hearing that day it very well could be the only case they have and trying to put myself in their shoes a little — both petitioner and respondent,” he added. “Providing the same attention and effort that they are putting into their case is what I use to deal with any and every case that comes before them.”

Despite the expiration of the state’s eviction moratorium, the caseload today is lighter than it was pre-pandemic, as more parts of the process are handled virtually, Lansden said.

As a supervising judge, he not only oversees his own cases, but the cases of the other judges in the court. In the years since taking the helm, he’s grown more comfortable with the position, juggling oversight while understanding that “a judge has their own domain and the ability to do things [their] own way.”

Among the many lessons learned throughout his decades in practice, the first was to remember that some things that happen are out of his control and that a “prudent approach” and “a little forethought in approach to life” can alleviate damage

“Things can happen to anybody, good times bad times, they happen and … while you can take steps to try and mitigate the bad times you can’t entirely eliminate them,” Lansden said. “You have to sit there and think about the big picture all the time, you can't presume you’re operating in a vacuum [because] you rarely are”