by Sean McManus
Staff Writer
One in a series on local judges.
When it comes to making a decision on the bench, Judge Charles Cofer meditative judicial style is an extension of the principles he applies toward his most passionate hobby — backpacking.
It’s a principle of individualized justice, meaning that he weighs each situation differently and evenly, establishing clear priorities before engaging in the decision-making process.
“When you’re about to hike up a mountain for three or four days, you need to decide what you can bring and what you can’t,” said Cofer. “Hiking teaches you resourcefulness, how to get your priorities straight and how to be disciplined. With all the creature comforts we have today, we’ve lost the ability to live minimally as well as the ability to utilize what we have.”
Cofer says most of the people who appear before him in county court are experiencing temporary hard times, resulting mostly from mixed-up priorities.
“I try to instill in them the idea that life can be so much easier if they think about what’s important and what’s not,” he said.
Cofer also makes sure, whatever the ruling, that each side knows the reasons behind it.
“There are no hard and fast rules,” said Cofer, “If I see the opportunity for rehabilitation then I give them a second chance, but I won’t be made a fool of.”
It can’t be discounted that part of Cofer’s even-handed style stems from the fact that his father was a Methodist minister and people often looked to his family for moral guidance.
Cofer’s moral compass pointed him toward the legal world. He’s been an attorney for 24 years, but only three of those were spent in private practice. For the last three years, he has served the public from the other side of the bench, as a county judge.
“You run into a common misconception on the part of the client when you work in the public defender’s office,” said Cofer, who spent 18 and a half years there. “A lot of times your clients think that as an employee of the State you don’t really have their interests in mind. I always felt like saying to them, ‘Do you know the kind of money I’m giving up to be your lawyer?’ “
But money was never the motivating factor for Cofer, who has a reputation among Jacksonville attorneys for thoughtfulness and clear judgment.
“I see too many people who hate their lucrative lives,” he said. “Life’s too short to do something you don’t like.”
Cofer was born in 1952 in Radford, Va. He went to high school in Alexandria, Va. and attended Duke University, majoring in political science and zoology.
“I loved science and I loved animals,” said Cofer.
He enrolled in law school at the University of Virginia, and after his junior year, clerked at what was then the biggest civil law firm in Jacksonville — Mahoney, Hadlow, and Adams.
“When I graduated from UVA, I was lucky enough to get offered a job right away so I moved to Jacksonville,” said Cofer. “[Public Defender] Al Chipperfield was my mentor.”
“I always knew Charlie would make a great judge,” said Chipperfield, who left Mahoney, Hadlow for the public defender’s office a year before Cofer. “He’s a hard worker, he’s fair and he was bored practicing civil law.”
Cofer, who worked mostly in the labor law department of Mahoney, Hadlow, left private civil litigation three years later, joining his friend Chipperfield in the public defender’s office.
“The great thing about that job was the ability to do so many different things and try so many different cases,” said Cofer, who didn’t take long to realize that he had found his calling in the criminal courts.
Much of Cofer’s time with the public defender was in the homicide division, adding extra weight and pressure to his civic duty. He worked closely with Lew Buzzell, Pat McGuinness and Ann Finnell.
“There was a lot of camaraderie among the attorneys working in homicide,” said Cofer. “It was hard work and very difficult at times, but we were doing a great job.”
One high profile case was defending the infamous “Stark Sailor” in the late 1980s and early 1990s. That case helped Cofer develop his balanced approach to the law that shaped his philosophy as a judge.
“You have to tread this line between caring enough about your client and the situation that it pushes you to do your best for them and at the same time not becoming so emotionally attached that you start to carry the burden of what they might have done,” he said.
In 1998, Gov. Lawton Chiles appointed Cofer to the bench.
“All of a sudden my place in the system changed. I went from zealous advocate to neutral and detached, but I remained a firm believer in the roles each side plays to achieve justice. I like the county courts because I work with the younger attorneys,” said Cofer, who enjoys being a teacher as much as he does being a judge. “These guys right out of law school are all spit and vinegar. I call them into my chambers and we talk about what makes the most sense.”
When not on the bench or in North Carolina backpacking, he is a “poor, but avid” golfer. And of course, he spends as much time as possible with his family. He has two daughters, Laura and Anne, and is involved with their athletic endeavors, serving as co-president of the River City Swim League the last two years and now as vice president. He is also spearheading a project to build a major swimming facility downtown. Currently, the project is undergoing a feasibility study.
During the winter, Cofer spends three weeks hiking in North Carolina. During the summer, his daughters accompany him on the hikes. He said it once took him four attempts to complete an especially difficult loop in the Daniel Boone National Forest.
It was just a matter of finally getting prioritized.