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Judy Sheindlin (born under the name Judith Susan Blum) is an American court show arbitrator and television producer from Brooklyn, New York City. She is also a former prosecutor and family court judge. She presided over the long-running court show "Judge Judy" (1996-2021), which "adjudicated real-life small-claims disputes within a simulated courtroom set". It was the highest Nielsen-rated court show for 25 years. She subsequently presided over "Judy Justice" (2021-), the first standard courtroom series to broadcast new episodes exclusively through a streaming service.

In 1942, Sheindlin was born in Brooklyn to a Jewish family. Her ancestors were primarily German Jews and Russian Jews. Her father was the dentist Murray Blum. Her mother, Ethel, worked as an office manager. Sheindlin received her secondary education at the James Madison High School, an elite public high school located in the Madison subsection of the Sheepshead Bay neighborhood of Brooklyn. The high school offers students an education in the workings of American legal institutions. Sheindlin graduated in 1960.

Sheindlin started her college education at the American University, a private research university which was located in Washington, D.C. The university has been affiliated with the United Methodist Church since its foundation, but religious affiliation is not a criterion for admission. Sheindlin graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree, majoring in government.

Sheindlin finished her law school education at the New York Law School, a private law school located in Tribeca, New York City. She earned her Juris Doctor degree in 1965, and passed the New York state bar examination within the same year. She was soon hired as as a corporate lawyer by a cosmetics firm. She worked for them until 1967.

In 1964, Sheindlin had married her first husband Ronald Levy. Levy later became a prosecutor in juvenile court. They had two children within the first years of their marriage. In 1967, Sheindlin resigned from her job to focus for a while in the upbringing of her young children. This marriage lasted until 1976, and ended in a divorce.

In 1972, Sheindlin became a prosecutor in the New York family court system. In her role as a lawyer, Sheindlin prosecuted child abuse cases, domestic violence and juvenile crime. She acquired a reputation for her "no-nonsense" attitude. In 1977, she married the judge Jerry Sheindlin. She helped raise her three stepchildren, two of which pursued legal careers of their own.

In 1982, Sheindlin was appointed as a criminal court judge by Ed Koch, the Mayor of New York City (1924-2013, term 1978-1989). In 1986, she was promoted to the rank of the supervising judge in the family court's Manhattan division. She acquired a reputation for toughness and harshness in her new role. In 1993, Sheindlin was the subject of an article in the "Los Angeles Times". This helped her gain celebrity status. She was soon featured in a segment on "60 Minutes". She started work on her first book: "Don't Pee on My Leg and Tell Me It's Raining" (1996).

Sheindlin retired as a judge in 1996. She had reportedly heard more than 20,000 cases in her career. She accepted an offer to preside in a new reality courtroom series, which became the ratings hit "Judge Judy". Her viewers reportedly liked to see "wrongdoers publicly humiliated by a strong authority figure". Sheindlin won several awards and honors over the following two decades. In 2006, she received her own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

In March 2011, Sheindlin was hospitalized after suffering a a mini-stroke. This did not prevent her from renewing her contract, or from negotiating an annual salary increase. She signed her new contract in May 2011. In August 2017, she renewed her contract for "Judge Judy" for the final time. By 2020, Sheindlin had decided that she would end her show at the time of its 25th season anniversary. The decision was motivated in part by her increasingly poor relationship with the conglomerate ViacomCBS, and by legal disputes with the talent agency Rebel Entertainment.

"Judge Judy" broadcast its final episode in July 2021. By that time, Sheindlin had started work in the production of her new show, "Judy Justice". Its first episode was broadcast in November 2021. The program aired its first-run episodes through the streaming service Amazon Freevee. Sheindlin credited her young adult granddaughter with providing input for this show's format. A second season was scheduled to appear in November 2022.

By 2022, Sheindlin was 80-years-old. Though she has considered retirement from television at various point, she has been reluctant to follow through with her retirement plans. She has admitted in past interviews that she feels engaged by her work, and that she considers herself able to still reach an audience. After a show business career of 26 years, she has become one of the most acclaimed figures in American television.

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