When a member of the public gallery left their hat on, a juror spoke out of turn or a lawyer misbehaved in the courtroom registrar Helen Norton was there to keep things in order.
Yesterday court staff, lawyers, judges and whanau filled courtroom one for a surprise farewell to the woman who has dedicated the last 28 years of her life to the Rotorua court.
Norton will be remembered not only for her actions in the court but for the flowers she adorned the judges' rooms with, the slices of lemon she popped into their carafes of iced water, the waiata group she was a founding member of, and her ongoing contribution to the workplace super rugby competition.
The 77-year-old was in awe as she entered the courtroom, tears instantly flooding down her cheeks.
Judge Phillip Cooper spoke on behalf of the current judges.
"She has been a lovely support for us on the bench. Such a beautiful, humble, quietly wise woman.
"When you talk to the judges, to visitors, they all talk about the special character of this court, that spirit has been built by Helen."
Emails were read from those who could not make it to the farewell and in his, Justice Paul Heath described Norton as the "pillar of strength which holds up this court".
Lawyer Harry Edwards will forever remember Norton as the woman who threatened to handcuff him to his desk.
Norton said he kept getting up and wandering off during the court proceedings, so she followed him to find out that he was in fact doing two cases in side by side courtrooms.
"Judge Weir ordered me to handcuff him to the table, and of course I said it would be my pleasure," she laughed.
Rotorua court manager Dan O'Brien said they had been talking about her retirement for more than a year, but he had always talked her out of it.
"She came to me not long ago and said, it's definitely going to happen this time, but I want to sneak out of this place.
"We made a fantastic plan, that she would tell people her last day was in January, but then take that as annual leave and just be gone.
He shared a story of the respect Norton earned herself within courtrooms.
"When I first came here I used to sit in on court cases to get a feel for things and a heavily tattooed man came into the public gallery with his sunglasses and hat on and the security guard went over to ask him to take them off.
"The man in no uncertain terms told him where he could shove it. Then Helen walked over, she stood there with her hands on her hips and the young man looked up, said 'sorry Aunty', and quickly took them off."
Norton told the Rotorua Daily Post all those years ago it was a friend who put her name down for the job.
Now 28 years on she has found it difficult to let go.
She said her success in the job was all about how she treated people.