NEW SCOTLAND — Robert “Bob” William Johnson III sees town court as a place to educated those who come before the bench so they know their choices. New Scotland’s newly appointed judge said each case is unique, and he plans to handle each fairly.

Johnson was appointed to the position, effective Feb. 1, by the town board last week. Johnson will be taking the place of Margaret Adkins, who left the position in November of last year.

Johnson served as the town justice from December 1991 to December 1992.

“I really was very interested in practical law,” said Johnson to The Enterprise, of his original interest in the position.

Johnson lost the 1992 election to Thomas Dolin, who served as town justice until he became town supervisor in 2008, serving until 2015.

Johnson, a zoning board member, became chairman of the board in the spring of 2015, following the departure of former chairman Adam Greenberg, who left for a position on the town board.

“I like the feel of the town,” said Johnson, of his time in local government.

Johnson chaired the town’s zoning board until his appointment. Jeffrey Baker, attorney for the planning and zoning boards, will take Johnson’s place as chairman, and planning board member Crystal Peck will take Baker’s position. Baker and Peck were appointed to these roles at the town board’s organizational meeting on Jan. 11.

Johnson said there are some similarities between the court and the zoning board, in that the board must use facts presented before its members to make a choice, which generally is to determine if a variance should be given to a zoning law.

Johnson attended Middlebury College and Albany Law School of Union University, where he earned his law degree in 1972. He worked as a trust officer with the State Bank of Albany before moving into private practice in 1975.

Johnson currently is a partner at the law firm Martin, Shudt, Wallace, DiLorenzo, & Johnson.

He cited his firm’s contract with the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Student Union, which allows RPI students access to the firm for legal matters. Johnson has represented many students, he said, working with municipal and county courts. He also noted that he is trained as a mediator in New York State.

His training in Alternative Dispute Resolution, involves arbitration and mediation and serves as a means of settling disputes without litigation. Johnson said this is often used in family and small claims court, and he feels it has better trained him to serve as a town justice again.

“In many relationships, you have someone who has more power,” he said, explaining that the mediation balances that power.

“It gives people a voice,” he said.

Johnson, who is not registered in a party, said he is prepared to run for election to the position, and if he does will register to enroll in the Democratic party. Appointed members of the town government are generally asked to run for election the following November.

Johnson is not worried about potential conflicts of interest from his time on the zoning board and his work as an attorney, noting that one of the advantages of having two justices is that one may have the other step in if there is a need for him to recuse himself.

“You’ve got to always be attuned to that possibility,” he said.

He noted that, while chairing the zoning board, he would disclose if he knew an applicant socially.

Four of the applicants for town justice went before the town board in a series of interviews open to the public. Johnson was out of town at the time, attending a conference on health care in Florida, he told The Enterprise. He was interviewed later on in two separate sessions, with town board members William Hennessy and Adam Greenberg at one interview, and with board members Patricia Snyder and Laura Ten Eyck at another.

At the public interview session, town board members reminded applicants of the busy nature of the New Scotland Town Court, as well as it often being a resident’s first interaction with municipal government.

Johnson said he had observed the court about a seven or eight weeks ago.

“There are more moving parts than there were in the past,” he said. He said he had the impression that some cases normally sent to the county court when he last was town justice are now being handled in the town court. He later added that the volume and severity of cases has increased, around 88 cases in total that night, and there is more involvement with the public defender’s and district attorney’s office.

Johnson said the court can also serve as an opportunity to educate people, so that people can walk away knowing their choices. He added that each case is unique, and he doesn’t want to take an “assembly-line approach” to the court.

“It’s an honor,” he said of being appointed to the position. “I’m given some responsibility here to act fairly on each case. I’m planning on doing that.”