Newbie Federal Judge Surprised by Lawyers Willing to Squander Court Time on Finger-Pointing
A newbie federal judge who is considered a potential U.S. Supreme Court nominee has some good and bad things to say about the lawyers who appear before her.
U.S. District Judge Denise Casper of Boston writes in an upcoming Boston Bar Journal article that she is impressed with the high quality of lawyering by those who appear before her. “Both in terms of oral advocacy and the quality of legal writing evidenced by the parties’ filings, the general standard of practice is quite high,” she writes.
But Casper says some lawyers are willing to waste courtroom time on needless finger-pointing and “ad hominem attacks on fellow members of the bar.” A Boston Bar Association press release reproduces the article, scheduled for publication this spring.
“Zealously representing clients in hard-fought cases can lead to vitriol between even the most reasonable attorneys,” Casper writes. “What has been surprising to me, however, is how much courtroom time some attorneys are willing to squander (if I would let them) on finger-pointing among counsel when the disputes are not material to the motion or matters that I need to decide. I am not talking about putting a pleasant face on the relationship between opposing counsel for the sake of the court, nor am I recommending that an attorney abandon well-founded arguments that turn upon the behavior of counsel or his/her conduct of a case. I merely suggest that attorneys stop to consider whether ad hominem attacks on fellow members of the bar in open court are advancing their client’s case.”
SCOTUSblog’s Tom Goldstein wrote that Casper is among the federal district judges who could be nominated to the U.S. Supreme Court if President Obama is re-elected and Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg retires. Goldstein observes that “trial judges simply do not get a lot of love in Supreme Court nominations,” however, and that he considers California Attorney General Kamala Harris the most likely person to win a nomination.
