Scott Snowden

SS: My immediate family history is my father was a professor of engineering at Berkeley and mother was from Virginia and she came here because her father was the Episcopal bishop, reassigned from St. Louis to San Francisco. Before the war. Some six weeks after their wedding, my father was called into the service and was gone for three years. It’s hard to know how to corral history.

On my father’s side, his great grandmother came from the east coast to California

This was before the Panama Canal—he came across Nicaragua, and ended up in Alameda. I knew my great grandmother--she was in her 90s, and she had come to America in her mother’s lap and she raised her family here.

My grandfather grew up in Alameda and was a friend of Jack London’s. My grandfather worked for a telephone company. My father was a writer, but after WWII, he realized that he needed a more stable life and went to work at UCBerkeley.

My family on my mother’s side goes way back to old Virginia

Grandfather John Rolfe was one of the original colonists in Jamestown and was the man who married Pocahontas, the native American woman who saved the Jamestown colony.

Great, great grandson married Patsy Jefferson, the daughter of Thomas Jeffereson. On my mother’s side, her background goes back to Jefferson and Tom Rolfe.

Did you have siblings?

SS: Siblings. My brother Randy and I still have property off Silverado trail that the family bought in 1955.

What was your childhood like?

SS: Childhood. By 1950s standards, it was pretty ordinary. We had television, radio and telephones. Long distance was a big deal, and we had party lines. Unlike what we know today with our global communication systems. We had rock ‘n roll when it was rock ‘n roll.

How did you spend your summers?

SS: Starting when I was five, my mother and father brought us from Berkeley to Napa Valley for the summers.

What has changed since those summers when you were growing up?

SS: Well, basically everything. It’s beautiful then and now. No place that’s prettier than the NV. That’s one reason I still live here. In terms of the makeup of the community, it’s profoundly different. When I was growing up, most of the people here lived here, made a living here, worked the land or served the community. But now, I would guess that around where I live on Spring St., six out of seven of the homes are owned by part-time owners who come here to visit. Tourism has become the differentiator.

Do you remember some of your favorite memories of Napa Valley?

Hanging out with people and doing things . . . There was a wonderful swimming hole at the base of Conn Damn that’s now a solar farm. That entire farm was a great big lake at the lower part of Conn Creek. It’s now closed and filled in. It was a wonderful place to go. The Roxie Theater for movies, all manner of fun and misdeeds.

Where did you go to high school?

Berkeley High School.

What was that like?

I enjoyed it. It was a little different because we spent summers in NV. It was stimulating, with a lot of kids from University professors. A lot of interesting, creative people.

Is that where you went to college?

I went to Washington University in St. Louis and Law School at UCBerkeley, one of the great law schools in the country, and my family is here.

First memory of fishing

Around Lake Hennessey and before the road splits, about 1952, and the Conn Dam was only about 5 years old, my dad took me out there one summer and I didn’t know anything about fishing, and I ended up catching a couple of blue gills. It was seeing that fish pulled out of the water was about the most amazing things I’d ever seen. I still fish today.

What about fly fishing

I would say it’s a contemplative thing. A magical thing. Between the world they live in and we live in. They’re beautiful creatures.

Would you say that you have an appreciation for photography?

I don’t do as much as I used to. When I was young I did a lot. So much has changed. Using my phone. My wife is a fabulous artist, and she’s so good, that I don’t try. Her name is Joanne Ortega. She came here in the late 70s.

How did you meet?

We were in the same age group in those days. We kind of ran in the same crowd. One of my very good friends, a vineyard manager, his wife’s sister is now my wife—that’s the connection that brought us together.

Who’s your favorite musician, and how did that influence you

Bob Dylan. An artist of the caliber of Shakespeare. You may not appreciate him the way I do. When people look back, they will agree with me. Nobody before or since who can measure up to him.

Others who have influenced you?

My family—my wife, my parents and brother—have been important. Cassius Styles and wife Frances. Contemplative and thoughtful thinker. My daughter named for him.

Where decided to join the army?

I signed up for ROTC, so I was training while in college, and I wanted to be part of the VN war. I had the opportunity to go to law school, with the idea of joining the JAG, but by the time I finished, the war had deescalated. Just a few months of active duty.

Experience in the service

Sobering. ROTC set up to sensitize soldiers to what soldier go through, so pretty rigorous. Influence to understand what is expected of soldiers going through what is basic training.

What about after law school

Since I was going to be going into the service, I took six weeks off and went to Europe, then the service, then 2 job offers. Compliance at Gallo and a private law practice. He chose the law practice and moved to Napa.

Where did you become interested in legal profession?

Way back. I always had it in my mind. There must have been influence of my parents and their circle of friends. No fantasies of being a judge. I never looked back.

Where did the wine industry experience come in?

25 years as a judge and retired, but doing private judgeship with a company that does a lot of arbitrations and mediations. There’s a lot of agribusiness-related cases. Mediation is very common. Try to be unbiased and fair.

Memorable Cases

• A community in Sacramento, a high school student, clubbed from behind 2 kids buried alive, killer on death row.
• Lawsuit by winery exec against daughter’s therapist. She alleging that father molested his daughter. The jury ruled in his favor. Lots of publicity.
• Kid dropped out of HS, written plan, went into HS and shot a teacher and 3 students, injured 9 more students. The killer is on death row.

Was it ever difficult to balance your private and public life?

Sure. I hope that it wasn’t different than with Scott’s being away for a while. Even today, with my arbitration work, it leaves my wife alone at times.

The biggest change St. Helena was a primarily agricultural area, with most people involved in the grape-growing business or other farming—walnuts, hay, etc. When we bought the ranch, the main cash crop was prunes.

The community was more insulated. Now we’ve become a tourist town.  Sit in front of the Model Bakery on a Saturday. This would never have happened in the old days, when I was growing up.

Where does it go from here?

It will continue to grow. The fact that no one can make the wine that we can and because there’s such a concentration of talented people who are devoted to the wine business. That keeps this an agricultural community.

Favorite aspect of life here in NV?

The aesthetic beauty of the hills down to the garden around our house.

Perspective changed over the years. From the planning commission toward the creation of the kind of community that we wanted to be better for everyone. When I became a judge, I had a completely new role of protecting.

What are you most proud of?

If I’ve done right by the people close to me. I hope I have. If I’ve been a good husband, father and son. If I’ve lived a good life, been a good friend and brother.

Can you talk about your children?

My daughter Suzanne went to St. Helena High School is a supervising social worker for the city of Berkeley. She lives in Albany. Older daughter, Diana, is a winemaker. She went to UCDavis and did an internship at Mondavi and that’s where she met her husband. His family owns a winery in France, and they live there, and she is the winemaker.

Your legacy?

 

Changes you’d like to see in the court system

It’s become so politicized on a national level—not so much here in Napa. Judge shopping is alarming, for example. Profoundly scary. Impartial judiciary, based on law, not politics. Love the replanting of the tunnel of elms!

You chose law—others in your family chose the wine business. How has that affected you personally?

My daughter and my brother, who’s also a lawyer, but he’s much more involved in the grape growing/winemaking business than I am. I’m blessed to have been a judge and stumbled into a post-judicial career. I was always fascinated by the wine business. I worked at a lot of wineries in the Valley.

How would you say that any decisions that influenced your life?

Over the course of years, we automated the system and we established a case management system that resulted in our disposing of 90% civil filings within 9 months of filing. We brought it to a new level. Many courts are so backed up. Not so much individual decisions but overall automation. Technology has helped revolutionized the system.

Technology, AI and law. Profound influence. It used to be that finding precedent was clumsy. Now, we can search online, though AI can provide miscues. In one example, a big law firm relied on AI to provide a use case and it was bogus. We’re not at the point where AI’s going to do the work for us. It’s only a tool. A human being must interact.

No future with AI and the law?

I believe that AI needs to be supervised. Need human involvement.

What experiences for the next generation?

Stay focused on fundamental values. Environment, life forms around you. People. History. What we’ve done well and done poorly.