New judge at the top

of media scrutiny, and it can be intense at times. No judge sets out to do a bad job. They are all earnestly trying to live up to the full demands, and they are full demands, of the judicial oath.’’

Technological changes complicate the relationship with the media. ‘‘We do keep up, I think we keep up, and when we don’t keep up the media are certainly pretty quick to point out what a bunch of duffers we are.’’

Like many judges she found sentencing a hard part of the job. ‘‘It’s a hard thing to send someone to prison, but of course that’s the appropriate punishment in many cases.’’

But if a judge clearly communicates the process and the reasons for a decision, confronting the issues and the tension, then the decision is more readily accepted, she says.

‘‘Judges do see a lot of heart-wrenching things so it does take a toll.’’

They have to find ways to cope with stress and trauma, even it it is other people’s.

Winkelmann has her own way of dealing with stress, such as waking at 5.30am to exercise. Not keen on shopping, she’s grateful to wear clothes from her sister, Adrienne Winkelmann, a high-end fashion designer who once made her black vinyl hotpants but now does a fine dark suit.

One of the important parts of Winkelmann’s role is to speak up about issues of access to justice but that covers more than just how much it costs to get a case into court, or having the money for a lawyer.

It’s also about having court decisions publicly accessible so people understand their options on issues like pay parity, residential tenancies, and ACC. ‘‘We need to write