Judge the Talk of the Courthouse : Courts: The spotlight is on Richard N. Parslow Jr., who will decide the Calvert-Johnson surrogate case. Those close to him say he’s intelligent--and loves to talk.

Superior Court Judge Richard N. Parslow Jr. likes to say dryly that he is a latecomer to the Anna L. Johnson surrogate-mother case--”because it had already been tried in the news media before it got to my courtroom.”

In a Parslow wisecrack, anybody can be a target. When a visit between Johnson and the genetic parents who temporarily have custody of the newborn, Mark and Crispina Calvert, went well on Saturday, the judge quipped: “Maybe it’s because there weren’t any lawyers around.”

Parslow is sensitive to some criticism in the media that he spent five hours in chambers last week with lawyers in the surrogate case, listening to arguments behind closed doors.

In this case, Parslow said, it was the only way to get anything done.

“We’ve already had dueling press conferences which threaten to drag this case on forever,” the judge said. “I can’t keep the lawyers from leaving my chambers and talking to the media. But I’ve warned them that my wife and my clerk are reading what they have to say, so I’ll know whether it’s anything close to what we said in chambers.”

Parslow will discuss only one fact about the case: “The child’s welfare is the primary concern for this court.”

The judge is also quick to say that the surrogate case is just one of 354 now pending in his courtroom, and once it’s resolved, he still has to face all the others.

Parslow, 55, who is assigned the surrogate mother case as part of his duties on a special panel of judges handling cases selected for expedited decisions, stands out to his peers on the Orange County bench as erudite, witty, good-humored, dedicated, and--his friends say with varying degrees of delicacy--someone who loves to talk.

“Parslow could spend all day riding up and down in the elevator if he found someone to talk to,” suggests Judge Donald A. McCartin, a longtime friend.

The first thing Leonard Goldstein, presiding judge of Superior Court, says about Parslow: “He is seldom at a loss for words.”

And Judge John C. Woolley, Parslow’s neighbor on the fifth floor at the County Courthouse in Santa Ana, says: “He just loves to talk.”

Parslow has an answer for all of them, of course.

“‘To be a good judge, you have to spend most of your time listening to lawyers,” he explains. “So when I get outside the courtroom, I like to do the talking. Besides, I’ve got a lot to say and not many years left to say it in.”

Parslow and his wife have four daughters, one now a psychologist, one in business, and the other two still in school. Having all girls has produced no gems of wisdom about life, the judge said, except that “car insurance is a lot cheaper than for four boys.”

Parslow, who began his career as a prosecutor, served on the Central Municipal bench from 1974 to 1983, before Gov. George Deukmejian elevated him to Superior Court.

Despite sitting now on the highest profile case of his 17-year career--the case returns for a new custody hearing Thursday--Parslow’s retirement years are very much on his mind. The national media camera crews didn’t pick it up last week, but next to the right sleeve of his judicial robes as he presided over the Johnson was a visitor’s guide to Prescott, Ariz. Prescott is the Athens of Parslow’s dreams for retirement, which he says, is still 3 1/2 years away.

If Parslow is known for anything besides talking, it’s his reading. He is voracious. Besides the local newspapers, he reads the New York Times and the Prescott Courier. He reads all the news magazines, plus the Economist and Arizona Highways. He laughs that “I get Judge Goldstein’s leftovers when he gets done with them. Look at this latest batch he sent me. Can you believe this?” It included the Economist, World Press, British Heritage, and Yorkshire Life. Parslow is also partial to Tony Hillerman novels and books from a history club to which he belongs.

But in recent days, Parslow’s reading habits have had to change. Most cases he can leave at the office, he says. But not the Johnson case.

“God knows this one is different,” he said.

So now he’s up late nights reading about genetics “so I can figure out what the hell we’re talking about in court.” His wife’s obstetrics book has been helpful too, he said.

Parslow received the surrogate mother case by the luck of the draw. It was selected at random for the expedited trial program--in which one judge remains on a case from beginning to resolution. But Judge Woolley, who presides over the expedited trial calendar, said “no one could be more perfectly suited for it.”

“He combines a tremendous intelligence with a great deal of humanism,” Woolley said.