Because of her straightforwardness of expression and impatience in making litigants get to the point, to keep them from wasting time on irrelevant and unimportant details, Judith Sheindlin is well-known as a no-nonsense jurist. Combining those qualities with her swift handling of many of the matters brought up throughout the course of each proceeding, Judge Judy is touted as, "A show where justice is dispensed at the speed of light."

Disbelieving many of the questionable affirmations of the parties that appear before her, lying is the main problem that the incredulous Judith Sheindlin has with both litigants and their witnesses. In fact, one of her most popular catchphrases is, "Baloney!", and she is also convinced that "If something doesn't make sense, it's not true."

Much to the frustration of some litigants, Sheindlin is a very adamant judge. Once she makes decisions and reaches positions about the case and certain issues involved in the case, litigants are usually unable to persuade her to change her mind. Despite this, there are litigants who won't keep quiet even while it seems as if they're about to win the case. Because of this, they often reveal information that helps the opposing party's position. In these cases, Sheindlin is known to change her mind.

Of all her characteristics, Judge Judy is noted most for her courtroom toughness. One example of this is her invectiveness, as she puts the parties in their places, often accompanied with insults and degradation. Sheindlin even spends a good portion of the cases giving certain litigants a hard time, by conducting herself in a sternly aggressive and loud fashion. She's referred to this treatment with such comments as, "I'm not finished torturing you yet!" As another example, Judge Judy is highly irascible towards the parties that appear before her. This is mainly displayed in her startling explosions at even the slightest irritations. As a third example, Judge Judy is known to behave in threatening ways. For instance, she has made such remarks as, "Sir, you want to say something to me? You sure you want to say something to me?" and "You mess around with me young lady, I'll wipe the floor with you. We follow each other?" In fact, the show's tagline is Justice with an Attitude. Sheindlin is often likened to three other celebrities notorious for being less than courteous towards their guests. They are Simon Cowell, Anne Robinson, and radio personality, Dr. Laura.

In contrast to her typically gruff and scathing nature towards adults and teens, Judge Judy is pleasant and cheery towards any children involved in the cases. There's even a small enclosed space, connected to the side of her bench, which Sheindlin uses as a special placement for younger children to talk to her in a friendly one-on-one fashion. Sheindlin also has Byrd escort children outside of her courtroom when she feels the court case brought before her, is inappropriate for children to be present for. As soon as these children have left, Sheindlin comes down on their parents for even bringing them to court and involving them in their legal disputes. This happens particularly when the mother and father of a child are suing each other, and have brought that child along as a witness. Judith Sheindlin is raspy-voiced with a New York accent. She's stated that her judicial philosophy is that people must to take responsibility for their own actions.

Though the title of the court show is Judge Judy, it has also become a nickname for Judith Sheindlin, who has become better known as Judge Judy. The show was created when Judy Sheindlin's reputation for being one of the outspoken family court judges in the country became the topic of a Los Angeles Times article, in February of 1993. The piece caught the attention of 60 Minutes, leading to a segment on the show, which brought her national recognition. This led to her being approached by producers to preside over her own courtroom drama. The title of her show was originally going to be "Hot Bench." Unhappy with that title however, Sheindlin convinced her television producers to change the title. Judy Sheindlin became the first television judge to have her name as part of the title of her court show. Judge Judy became the third show to be created in the court-themed genre, behind The People's Court and Divorce Court. Randy Douthit and Peter Brennan are the show's executive producers.

The Judge Judy court show changes very little from season to season. The show's music and graphics are the only thing that has changed repeatedly over its past twelve years. The ninth season (2004-2005) is one of the few seasons in which the show made a major alteration; the Judge Judy intro had been changed drastically. Symphony No. 5 (Beethoven) became the show's theme music. For its scenes, Judge Judy is shown in a different courtroom from her own, approaching the camera, followed by folding her arms and smiling at the camera. This is followed by showing various scenes of her seemingly presiding over different cases.

In addition, there was another alteration made to the show's intro that season; each show begins with a short, often exaggerated preview of the case. This is followed by its theme music, with voice-over artist, Jerry Bishop, making the statements: You are about to enter the courtroom of Judge Judith Sheindlin. The people are real... the cases are real... the rulings are final. This is Judge Judy. However, the sentence, this is her courtroom, originally stated after the sentence, the rulings are final, was eliminated from the show's intro by the show's ninth season.

Before the ninth season, the show used an original tune for its music. The theme music used for the seventh and eighth seasons were much like that of the music used for all of the seasons prior to those, only played with different instruments. During the fourth, fifth, and sixth seasons, the theme music began with an explosion-like sound. The music itself was a booming tune, descriptive of drums. As that sounded, there was a computer animated approaching scene towards a courthouse, up until that scene entered into the courthouse. From there, several shots of Sheindlin presiding over different cases were displayed, moving from one side to the other. Those shots developed into the courthouse symbol that represents her program (that symbol is always displayed inside the letter D, in Judy), by the end of the theme music. Before that, the scenes were that of the courthouse symbol that represents her program, over a green background. Shots of Sheindlin, presiding over different cases, flew into the scene, and moved into each of the square-shaped designs of the courthouse, correspondingly.

The colors that represent the show have altered several times over the years. The first couple of seasons of Judge Judy were represented by the colors sea green and saffron. Blue and saffron represented the fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh seasons. An array of many bright colors, along with blue and saffron represented the eighth season. Since the ninth season, the various graphics and computer-generated imagery on the show have been falu red and saffron. As of the twelfth season, prussian blue has been added to the show's color scheme for the opening previews of each episode.

Before every commercial break, a preview of the upcoming moments of the case that is in session and ofte

Because Judge Judy's audience members are actually paid extras, tickets to the show are unavailable. however, arrangements can sometimes be made with the production staff to allow fans of the show into the audience without payment. All the extras are instructed to laugh on cue. Extras are also instructed to appear as if they're having discussions with each other before and after each case, so the bailiff may make such announcements as, "Order! All rise." The litigants that appear before Judge Judy have actually sued each other however, and Sheindlin actually presides over their case. Either people will submit cases to the show via their website, by the show's number, or producers will research court files from all over the country, to find cases that they think will be appropriate and entertaining for Judge Judy.

People who work for the show call both parties and ask them questions about their case, to make sure it's suitable for Judge Judy. If the parties agree to be on the show and sign a waiver, agreeing that arbitration in Sheindlin's court is final and cannot be pursued elsewhere (unless she dismisses the lawsuit without prejudice), their case will air on Judge Judy. The award limit on Judge Judy, as on most 'syndi-court' shows (and most small claims courts in U.S.), is $5,000. The award for each judgment is paid by the producers of the show, from a fund reserved for each case. About forty percent of the cases are money judgments, while sixty percent are dismissed.

Both the plaintiff and the defendant receive $100 for their appearance, as well as $35 a day, paid to them by the show. The litigant's stay lasts for the number of days that the show does taping for that week, which is usually three days. In addition, the travel and hotel expenses of the litigants and their witnesses are covered by the show. If there is an exchange of property, Ms. Sheindlin signs an order and a sheriff or marshal sees to it that that property is exchanged. There are no lawyers present and participants defend themselves on Judge Judy, as is standard in a small claims court. Sheindlin sees only a half-page complaint and a defense response prior to the taping of the cases, sometimes only moments before Most of the cases, without any deleted footage to meet the time constraints of the show, usually last anywhere from twelve to thirty-five minutes.