“The first time I saw a trial,” Robert M. Dow Jr. said, “I was the judge in it.”One reason he had avoided trial work as a private attorney was because he feared he was not quick enough on his feet, the U.S. district judge said.He carried that fear with him when he joined the federal trial bench in Chicago in December 2007.“I lost probably 10 pounds my first year as a judge because I was just freaked out all the time,” he said. “And I hyper-prepared. I read every exhibit and I have …