On the very first day of his new job on the bench, Miami-Dade County Court Judge Bill Altfield had a special bailiff to announce his calendar call.

“All rise. County court for County of Miami-Dade is now in session,” announced his father, Perry Altfield, 81, a retired Miami-Dade bailiff. “The honorable William Altfield presiding. Please be seated.”

Perry Altfield’s calender announcement at the South Dade Justice Center was ceremonial. But the morning packed an emotional punch for the elder Altfield. He also helped his son into his new judicial robe.

And the new judge’s mother, Florence Altfield, 80, attended — even while in a wheelchair, nursing a broken leg.

“I think he got a little teary eyed,” Bill Altfield said later. “It was just a great, great day.”

Altfield, 51, was appointed to a judgeship after a nearly 25-year career as a Miami-Dade prosecutor, most notably in the public corruption unit.

The county bailiff program holds a special place in the Altfield home.

Just before law school in the early 1980s, Bill Altfield became the first bailiff for Dade County’s misdemeanor court as part of a pilot program.

Back then, county court did not have bailiffs. As part of the pilot program, Altfield became a hybrid bailiff-clerk.

“I didn’t even have a uniform. It was just a suit and a tie,” he said.

In 1983, Altfield left to attend law school at the University of Florida.

Soon afterward, county courtrooms received full-time bailiffs and his father later became a bailiff, in probate court, enjoying a 14-year career.

On Monday, as the new judge presided over misdemeanor cases - his first day included two bench trials, one for trespassing, another for theft – his full-time bailiff, Alvin Jackson, took over from the elder Altfield.

Monday was also Jackson’s first day in the uniform.