Adam Levy: What to Know About Judge Judy’s Son and Former Prosecutor

Judy Sheindlin has been a fixture on television since Judge Judy debuted in 1996. After nearly 30 years of commanding the courtroom and building a loyal audience, she planned to retire in late 2026. Yet as the final episode of Judy Justice approached that October, Sheindlin made it clear that her television career was not entirely over. She would continue developing courtroom programs, including Adam’s Law, a new series designed to introduce viewers to her son, Adam Levy, as the latest blunt-talking judge in the family.

When Adam’s Law premiered in September 2026, longtime Judge Judy viewers naturally turned their attention to Levy. He already had television experience from Prime Video’s Tribunal Justice and Justice on Trial, along with almost 30 years working in law. In an interview with USA Today, Levy explained that his courtroom education began at home. “At home is where I learned the first rules of cross-examination,” he joked. “I was the victim of these.” Life with Sheindlin’s famously direct parenting style could be intense. When asked what it was like to grow up with Judge Judy, Levy quipped, “Ask my therapist.” Here’s a closer look at the life and career of Judy Sheindlin’s sharp-witted son.

Judy Sheindlin has made her professional life highly visible, but her family history is equally compelling. She has been married three times, including two marriages to the same man, and those relationships resulted in five children.

Sheindlin married Ronald Levy in 1964. The couple welcomed daughter Jamie Gail in 1966 and son Adam Bruce in 1968 before divorcing in 1976. Two years later, Judy married Jerry Sheindlin. Both were practicing attorneys at the time and would eventually become judges in New York. The couple made their home in Riverdale, Bronx, where they raised Adam and Jamie alongside Jerry’s three children from a previous marriage: Gregory, born in 1964; Jonathan, born in 1967; and Nicole, born in 1968. Jerry’s children divided their time between their father’s home and their mother’s residence in Nanuet, New York, but the blended family quickly became close. Adam and Jamie did not think of Jerry’s children as stepsiblings, and those children likewise never treated Judy as a stepmother.

Nicole described the household to Westchester Magazine in 2010 as a close family where every child was treated fairly and spoken to with respect. Nicole, who was 8 when she first met Judy, particularly valued Sheindlin’s straightforward approach. The children’s exposure to the law also began early. According to Nicole, conversations around the dinner table frequently centered on what their parents had encountered in court that day.

The no-nonsense attitude that defined Sheindlin’s courtroom persona was also central to her parenting style. In a 2024 interview with Fox News, she said parents are not meant to act as their children’s best friends. Instead, she focused on preparing her children for reality and holding them accountable. Her guiding lesson was simple: doing the right thing does not guarantee a good outcome, but doing the wrong thing will eventually come back to hurt you.

That emphasis on honesty extended even to minor childhood mischief. Levy recalled that whenever he tried to hide something he had done, his mother quickly recognized the signs. She would question him until his story unraveled, leaving him visibly confused and exposing the lie. Although he found the experience aggravating at the time, Levy now credits those exchanges with helping him develop the cross-examination skills that became central to his legal career.

Sheindlin also expected her children to learn independence early. In an interview with People, Levy remembered being assigned a neighborhood laundry business while he was still in fourth grade. If he wanted to buy baseball cards, his mother told him, he would need to earn the money himself rather than ask her for it.

With two parents whose lives revolved around the legal system, Levy’s decision to become an attorney was hardly unexpected. He earned his law degree from Hofstra University’s Maurice A. Deane School of Law in 1992, although he initially hoped to take a year off before beginning work. Sheindlin, however, had other plans. When the Suffolk County, New York, district attorney’s office called with an assistant district attorney offer, she happened to answer the phone. Levy later recalled that she introduced herself as his mother and informed the office that he would accept the job.

Levy began as an assistant district attorney before moving into private practice and co-founding the New York firm Levy & Santoro. His profile grew significantly in 2007, when he became district attorney of Putnam County, New York. During two terms that lasted through 2015, his office reported notable accomplishments, including a 40% reduction in property crime and the establishment of the Putnam County Intelligence Committee. Levy eventually followed his mother into television, first joining the 2023 Prime Video series Tribunal Justice and then appearing with Sheindlin on Justice on Trial in 2025. In 2026, he became the lead of CBS’ Adam’s Law.

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Levy’s public career faced a serious controversy in 2013 after his live-in personal trainer, Alexandru Hossu, was arrested and accused of raping a 12-year-old girl in 2010. Hossu, a Romanian citizen, had an expired work visa that had lapsed 12 years earlier, yet he had been employed by Levy while Levy was serving as district attorney.

After Hossu’s arrest became public, Levy recused himself from the investigation because of their connection. Putnam County Sheriff Donald Smith nevertheless accused him of interfering with the case, saying Levy was attempting to influence the investigation, according to CBS News. Levy rejected the claim in a statement reported by E! News, insisting that his office had handled the matter appropriately. Reporting by The Journal News, cited by USA Today, later said Levy had paid part of Hossu’s legal expenses and supported having his brother-in-law represent him. The report also described a long-standing relationship between the two men, noting they had been friends in 2004 when Hossu pleaded guilty to stealing nearly $84,000 from a restaurant where he worked.

Hossu was ultimately acquitted. Levy later pursued legal action of his own, filing a $5 million defamation lawsuit against Sheriff Smith in 2013. The case ended in Levy’s favor in 2017, with a $150,000 settlement. “It took four years, but I couldn’t be happier,” Levy told CBS2.

Levy has largely kept his family life private, though he is known to have married Lori Leichtman in 1995, three years after completing law school. They later had three children: Jacob, Emma, and Sarah Rose Levy. Emma’s professional life is not widely known, while Jacob has reportedly worked as a ski instructor. Sarah Rose, however, has become familiar to Judge Judy viewers through her work with her grandmother.

Sarah Rose graduated from New York Law School in 2022 and passed the New York State Bar exam in 2024. During that period, she also appeared on Sheindlin’s Judy Justice as the show’s law clerk. When Sheindlin retired and Levy assumed the family television mantle, Sarah Rose joined her father on Adam’s Law, which launched in September 2026. This time, she moved away from the camera and took a role behind the scenes in the control room. Levy told USA Today that she is the one person who can tell him to wrap up when his questioning goes on too long. While he might disregard similar guidance from a producer, he admitted he never says no to his daughter.

Away from the courtroom and television studio, Levy appears to enjoy an adventurous lifestyle. His biography lists skiing, scuba diving, and white-water rafting among his favorite activities when he is not working in law or on television.

Sheindlin helped launch her son’s legal career by accepting his first job offer for him shortly after he graduated in 1992. More than three decades later, she again encouraged Levy to take a major professional step, this time into television. After appearing in two Prime Video courtroom programs, he became the central figure in CBS’ Adam’s Law in 2026. Sheindlin created and executive produced the series and, as she stepped away from her own long-running shows, viewed Levy as the natural person to continue the family legacy. In the program’s trailer, she praised his personality and said she believed she was passing the baton to the right person, according to the show’s trailer.

Levy also faced immediate comparisons to his mother and the inevitable “nepo baby” criticism that accompanied his new role. He argued, however, that Sheindlin would not have given him the opportunity if she did not believe he could handle it. Speaking with USA Today, he said his mother is not someone who flatters people, including her own family, and would have told him to wait if she thought he was unprepared. He similarly told Fox News that Sheindlin’s belief in his readiness gave him the confidence to lead his own program.

Ahead of the September 2026 premiere of Adam’s Law, Levy offered Judge Judy fans a preview of what to expect. The new show follows a similar courtroom format, and Levy acknowledged that his approach shares one of Sheindlin’s defining traits: a low tolerance for dishonesty and theatrics. As he explained to Fox News, neither he nor his mother has much patience for people who enter the courtroom and lie.

Although Levy never served as a judge in the traditional legal system, he planned to bring some of Sheindlin’s trademark humor and bite to his television rulings. In an interview with USA Today, he cited one of her favorite lines—“I know when you’re lying when your mouth moves”—as a phrase he has used himself. It was also a comeback he heard repeatedly during childhood whenever he tried to outmaneuver his mother.

However, the similarities didn’t end there, and Sheindlin was sure there was one physical attribute that would help her son succeed. According to Levy, she told him, “You don’t have to be as good as me, because you have my eyes, and that’s what’s going to carry you along.” Despite such reassurances, the pressure was on. “I don’t want to disappoint her,” Levy told Fox News in 2026, quipping, “I don’t want the word ‘bupkis’ next to my name in the will.”