I don’t remember the sand timers, but then again, that trial was such a circus, I’m probably trying to forget. LOL
Depending on the jurisdiction, judges may be permitted to have whatever they want on the bench. I don’t know that any of ours have personal memorabilia and “junk” on their benches. That may be a local rule or something. I don’t know. Would seem right to forbid anything not pertinent to the matter at hand — why would any judge want a lot of clutter? Goodness knows, cases are complex enough without a lot of extraneous stuff around.
Of course, locally, we had one judge who kept a flask of alcoholic libation in his robes. According to the story, during one proceeding, the bottle fell out and clunked on the floor. I would have loved to have seen that one. :)
Clutter at work - we need a shrink to explain that. I go into various law firms for my job and at every place some cubicles and offices are absolutely encrusted with beanie babies, inspirational sayings, fishing memorabilia, anything and everything while some may contain a single pretty paperweight. By the way my space is always devoid of personal objects because (it pains me to say this) nowadays one never knows if they are coming back or not.