By David B. Caruso
The Associated Press
New York Lawyer
January 24, 2007

NEW YORK -- the son of television's judge judy sheindlin is running for the office of district attorney in Putnam county, a bucolic region of wealthy estates and small villages 40 miles north of Manhattan.

Adam Levy, an attorney with a private practice in Carmel, N.Y., announced his candidacy at a pair of campaign events Tuesday with his famously sharp-tongued mother at his side.

"I'm very nervous about it. I'd be dishonest if I said I was not," the 38-year-old said of his first run for public office.

"But I'm excited, and I know I have the qualifications," he added, noting the four years he spent as an assistant district attorney in Suffolk County and his decade in private practice.

Sheindlin, who was a family court prosecutor before becoming a judge, said she was bursting with pride.

"He's a wonderful human being and a fine lawyer," she said, adding that he'd first showed his talents as a "great debater" trying to talk himself out of trouble at age 3.

Levy, a Republican, hails from a family of lawyers. Besides his mother, who served as a Manhattan judge for 14 years before landing on TV's "Judge Judy," he has two lawyer siblings and a stepfather, Gerald Sheindlin, who was a state judge before retiring to become a TV judge on "The People's Court."

Asked whether he worried that voters might dismiss his candidacy as an attempt to capitalize on his mother's fame, Levy noted that his legal career began years before her show started airing.

"I wasn't born with a silver spoon in my mouth, and I still don't have one," he said. "I've stood on my own two feet since my days in the (Suffolk County) district attorney's office."

Other potential candidates considering runs for Putnam County district attorney include the county's current chief assistant prosecutor, Christopher York, and James Borkowski, an attorney and town justice.

Incumbent District Attorney Kevin Wright is stepping down after 20 years on the job.