Male Judges in Vegas Score Better on Courtesy in Newspaper Survey

Judiciary

Male Judges in Vegas Score Better on Courtesy in Newspaper Survey

Posted May 22, 2008, 06:04 am CDT
By Debra Cassens Weiss

Male judges in the county that includes Las Vegas outscored females on courtesy in a survey (PDF) by the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

The female judge who scored highest for courtesy still had marks that were lower than all but two of the male judges, the newspaper reports.

The lowest rated female judges were Elizabeth Halverson, who is fighting an ethics complaint that she treated staff like servants, and the judge who moved to oust her, Chief Judge Kathy Hardcastle.

Several lawyers criticized Hardcastle’s “iron-hand” approach to management, the newspaper says in a separate story. One lawyer said she had the “charm of a crocodile.” But another said she deserves credit for handling a tough job and lots of egos.

As many as 378 lawyers responded to the survey about judges who work in Clark County. Lawyers were asked to rate the judges only if they had personal experience with them.

Two-thirds of the survey respondents were men. Experts told the Review-Journal that fact could have affected the scores, since lawyers and litigants tend to favor judges who are similar, whether in age, ethnicity or gender.

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