Welcome to the final, Yes, the FINAL INTERVUE of 2022. And on this edition, Nosey debuts the second sophomore season, have a new chart series called Judge Mom. This show is the first courtroom show produced separately in both English and Spanish with a fully bilingual cast reprising their roles in each version.
Judge Mom features cases featuring the best and worst of what humanity has to offer. Beyond strict legal decisions judge mom grounds sensible verdicts in a mother’s why sense of right and wrong. And joining us today is a brand-new TV judge who’s taking over for the sophomore season. My friends, we have with us for our final guest of 2022 – Sandy Hoyos, Esq.
Sandy, welcome to THE INTERVUE!
Thank you. Thank you. It’s a pleasure being here with you.
Well, so great to talk with you. And especially since I’ve seen so many episodes, you are definitely breath of fresh air when it comes to TV judges in this long running genre of courtroom shows on television.
It was a challenge. I have to say it’s definitely been a challenge.
I bet it was. I want to ask you first is what was your initial reaction when you got the call to take over as the new Judge Mom for the sophomore season?
I had been doing a couple castings. As you know, I’m a I’m a lawyer, I’ve been a practicing lawyer for twenty-one years, did some TV work as a legal analyst and had done these castings. But I thought, okay, you know, this, I’m competing against Hollywood actresses. I have no background, just the drama of being a mother of four. And so, I figured, alright, we’ll give it the all. And I remember getting the call on Valentine’s Day 2022. And I was ecstatic. I have to be honest with you. This is one of those bucket list items for me. I have to say it was it was a dream come true. There’s a lot of it was a wonderful experience.
Now, you just mentioned bucket list items. Is there anything we have to know that is also on this bucket list of yours?
Oh, that bucket list is long. It involves travel and adventure. All the fun stuff that we all put on our bucket list. But this was one of those for me, because I love what I do professionally. But I also like to bring it to the people like in a real-world sense. And sometimes, you know, sitting on the other side. But I have always wanted to say like, “Guys, sometimes you just need to be real. I understand. We got to follow the law. But sometimes you got to follow your heart and do the right thing. Or take somebody’s lesson, whatever it is that takes.”
Now according to your bio, and when you mentioned moments ago, you are a divorce and family lawyer. When did you realize that you wanted to pursue a career in law? And can you give us a little bit more about your background?
That’s right. So initially, I didn’t want to be a lawyer. Originally, I wanted to study communications and be in broadcasting. I wanted to be you. But my Cuban father rest his soul said absolutely not. We only get lawyers; doctors and you know accountants in this family. So, pick which one you like better, and that’s what you’re going to pursue. So, then I went to law school, obviously, and I kind of just fell into the divorce world because I was having children. My children are twenty months apart. They’re currently 21, 19, 17 and 15. Believe it or not, it seemed like the easiest practice for me at the time. That’s how I felt the divorce work.
And now you’re combining a bit of a two since you’re now in way broadcasting you are on Nosey the streaming media platform as a television judge.
Yes, it gives me the opportunity to you know, do and say all those things that in a you know, court of law when I’m sitting there on the other side as the lawyer or the representative for one of the litigants. I can’t necessarily do so it shakes up a little bit. It’s a lot of fun.
Now, did it feel initially weird at first to be on the other side since you’re used to being a lawyer? You’re talking to a judge in your career as a lawyer and now you’re behind the bench and given advice to the plaintiffs and the defendants.
That’s right. It took the first couple of shows it took a little bit of getting used to, and I kept telling my head as I was, you know, as we were filming, I’m like, “Remember, you’re the judge you get the last word here, you know, because as a litigant, you’re kind of you know, you have to test the waters. See what the judge’s mood is, you don’t want to overstep your boundaries.” But here was kind of like, alright, I get the last word, I get to say, what I really feel and what I really want, and I can, you know, put this one to bed if I need to. So, it was really it was a it was challenging, like I said, but it was awesome. And the crew and the people I work with her just amazing.
And where does the episodes be filmed? I know, for some court shows, they’re in Los Angeles, New York, & Connecticut.
We had the privilege of filming in sunny South Florida, in Miami where I live. So, it was very nice. Yeah, I think a couple of production got to sneak out to the beach once in a while during the filming, so it was pretty nice. We’re in Miami. It’s beautiful all year round. It’s like, almost eighty degrees today.
Oh, great. Now I really want to go to Miami. So how do you anticipate your personal philosophy would translate to your service as a new court judge on television?
So, what I’m trying to do is just be who I am. I mean, this is why I’m as a mother, as a lawyer. You know, my friends who know me, my colleagues will tell you, you know, we’re actually what I’ve heard is we didn’t know you have that nasty side. I tend to be very subtle in my presentations. And you know, I there’s sensitive topics, usually when you’re dealing with divorce and child support and custody issues. And you know, I have a very soft heart for kids.
Obviously, I’m guardian ad litem at a time. They were like, wow, there’s a really, really hard side to you. And I’m like, yeah, so, you know, it’s nice to bring it all out at the same time and have, you know, no parameters within which I have to be restrained. But I can kind of just say, Hey, guys, you know, this may be the law. But this is how I feel as a mother, this is what I would do. If you were my kid, if you were my sister, if you were my friend, you know, I’m going to take off my robe, and I’m going to tell you how I really feel?
Absolutely. Because with a title like Judge Mom, you can’t expect a judge should be just nice. As a mom, you got to have that tough love sometimes.
Oh, absolutely. And I think a lot of what’s missing a lot of times is that tough love, and not necessarily tough love, like maybe delivered in a you know, in other, shows that we may watch, which is just like, “This is what the law says, and this is what it is” because sometimes, you know, you’re like, well, but why there’s still the question of but why.
And I’ve left the courtroom many times where my clients have been like, but why did that happen? And I’m like, because you’re trying to teach you a lesson. Now, let me tell you what the lesson is. So that’s what I love. And that’s what I think makes this show so different is the fact that you get that emotional, not always soft side, but the emotional side.
Now were you a fan of the courts that portrayed on television like Judge Judy and The People’s Court before taking on this role.
I’ve always been a big fan of Judge Judy, I think she’s a rock star. I know. It’s very cliché, but I have always loved her since I was a kid. I just think, you know, I love her presence, her attire, her demeanor, and she’s tough. I mean, she’s a tough cookie, there’s no doubt. And you know, yes, she’s definitely always a role model to follow but I think in this case, we just needed to bring a little bit of something different, which is what we feel we bring to the table.
And along those lines, how important is it to have the human connection between a judge between the litigants, between yourself as lawyer and those in and out of the courtroom? How important is that human connection?
I think the human connection is extremely important. I think we’ve been losing it little by little. I’m not sure it’s because we live in such a fast-paced world. A lot of it has been because of the pandemic, we ended up doing a lot of court cases via zoom. And the human touch is kind of lost. It’s not the same thing to be in front of a judge when you can see their face or in front of a litigant when you can see each other as it is when you’re on Zoom.
We’ve lost a little bit of that, hopefully coming back into the courtroom, we can regain it. It is for me, it felt amazing to be able to film everything in person and see my litigants and see everything occurring and, and be able to reach out and say, you know, hey, don’t cry or Hey, it’s okay. And give them a little bit of that emotional human part. Knowing at the end of the day, I’m going to decide what I’m going to decide and you may not like me when this is all over but there’s Kill some kindness that can be brought to the table without losing the authority.
I absolutely agree, especially with what’s been going on with the pandemic, and all the TikTok videos and YouTube videos we’ve seen. Humanity is really, in some parts at is worse, we’ve lost that friendly feeling among neighbors and we turn into people who lose their minds at the drop of a dime.
That’s it. There’s a lot of intolerance, there’s a lot of impatience and, and you can even see it on you know, when we film on the show, there’s a lot of you just people want to talk over each other, and they want to insult each other and point fingers, and I’m like, Hey, we’re not throwing sand in the sandbox, this is not how we play here. I love the opportunity to bring back a little bit of that humanity to everyone who watches it.
You’ve been a lawyer for over two decades, what did you learn about conflict resolution through your time as divorce & family lawyer?
So first of all, I graduated when I was fifteen. I’m kidding. Twenty years ago, that’s the whole shoes. So in our practice, in the family practice, you know, I always tell people, your first offer is your best offer, and you’re much better off settling on case, then you’re litigating a case, because the way I see it is, you know, once I take that bench, I’m looking into a fishbowl, I don’t know what those people’s lives are really, like, only they know how they live, right?
I’m observing from the outside, and I’m going to decide. And I always tell people try to resolve any great resolution, or any midway resolution is better than your best in court. Because you’re at the hands of somebody who doesn’t really know the intimate details of your life, you know, the intimate details of your life.
And you have to control that temper for that’s most important because if you don’t, it could go another way than you’re expecting.
Right? I mean, you know, it’s difficult depending on the case, but we you know, when emotions are involved, people tend to get clouded. And the conflict resolution process is amazing, because a lot of times we separate the litigants, and it gives them an opportunity to kind of pull down and look at things with a cooler head. And you don’t have to grandstand because the other person isn’t there in front of a judge trying to be bigger and better or more eloquent, or that’s eloquent. I think it’s a great process. And does it work absolutely works.
What have you learned from your experiences as a brand-new court judge, that you would like to share with our readers with our watchers?
It’s a lot of work. And we love what we do. And I want everyone to know that I get to make my decisions. These are not pre-scripted for me, we really do what we do based on how I feel in that moment, who I feel is telling me the truth, how they’re reacting. None of this is pre planned. Nobody knows which way I’m gonna go. And it’s just a really cool experience to see people expose their positions, you know, tell you bring you evidence.
And we really do look at the evidence we look at and I wait as I would wait if I were in a courtroom. I’m never going to do anything outside the four corners of the law but am I going to send you somewhere to teach you a lesson like community service hours? Or, you know, go walk the neighbor’s dog that you spat out?
Indeed, asides from spending time with your four children, tell us about your life outside of the courtroom, what do you do?
I have a daughter and three sons. And they obviously keep it this busy. But aside from that, you know, the practice of law keeps me really busy as well. I love to ballroom dance. Believe it or not, I took it up as a hobby. Some time ago, during the pandemic, I needed to, you know, have some human contact, as we said, and it’s something I did since I was a kid. It was really cool to pick it up again, and it was challenging and obviously I love to do it.
So, you know, once in a while I’ll run off to a small competition over the weekend, and things like that. So that’s really the true hobby Other than that, the practice of law is a jealous mistress. I learned that thing in law school. I never thought it was true, but I can confirm it is.
I bet it is. So, we are winding down 2022. I know you have a birthday coming up, which is tomorrow. What are your plans for the end of the year and your birthday?
I know it’s one of those like mixed emotions because it’s everybody celebrating but they’re not all necessarily celebrating your birthday at the same time. I don’t know, there’s apparently a surprise planned in the morning that I’m not supposed to know about. And then at night, we’re gonna go to a place that we like to go to, to dance and celebrate. I’ll spend it with my family who’s here from out of town, my sister, my brother. Just everybody together, just very relaxed. I love I just like having a nice time with family with friends, dancing, enjoying taking a breath, saying, Okay, goodbye to this awesome, amazing year that has passed and you know, come what may we welcome it?
And speaking of which, what was your favorite moment of 2022 aside from getting this gig?
Wow, that’s, that’s a tough one. I feel like I’m very blessed. I’ve had a lot of very good moments. You know, there’s been one or two of those moments when you swear, you’re gonna lose a case. And the judge says, “oh, put it in the mail.” And then you get it. And then there was like, Wow, I did it. There was one of those this year, it was a really important one for me, because it involved a small kid, a small child who I knew was being placed in the wrong place. And it was going to be a turmoil of a litigation. It didn’t go the right way.
And you know, I was very blessed that it did so professionally. Aside from obviously Judge Mom, that was huge. And I have to say, I guess my oldest daughter graduating college, finally, nine, one out and three more to go. An NYU grad, so very proud of her. That was a big moment for me.
Amazing, what advice do you have for all the future lawyers coming soon?
I think the most important advice I could ever give them is never stop learning. Never stop reading and never stop dreaming because just because you made it and you’re a lawyer doesn’t mean it’s over. I mean, case in point, I graduated law school, I came into this TV analyst gig. It that brought me into Judge Mom. So, you know, graduating law school is not the end all be all, there’s so much more that you can do.
Aside from just practicing law, there’s so much good that you can do for other people for the community. You know, even for your friends and family. Sometimes you’re you know, you find somebody in the grocery store, “Oh, my God, I have this problem.” And you’re just like, “Here’s my card. It’s one correspondence, and I’ll get it done for you.” And I have to tell you, that’s the best feeling. And, and that’s gratitude right there.
The sophomore season of Judge Mom is currently on the Nosey app on a variety service including Pluto TV, Samsung TV plus and Roku channel.
This is Dean on the Scene – Thank you all for reading our news, reviews and interviews for 2022 and we look forward to seeing each other!
Until we meet again as I always say – See you…. out there!
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