Then tell the civil firms to actually go to trial and provide their attorneys with courtroom experience. Otherwise, if we are looking for courtroom experience, DA and PDs are going to be the seed corn for the foreseeable future.
Isn’t the reason the DA and PDs are the only ones moving onto the bench is that the lawyers in civil practice don’t want to take pay cuts? And they’ve seen that extremely qualified experienced civil litigators who were nearing retirement and willing to become judges don’t get appointed and don’t get elected. So why bother with the fool’s errand? Instead they hold their noses, make their money, and wind up having to appear before judges who don’t know shinola about civil law and who rule in ways that prove the same. The recipe for disaster is just about fully cooked.
And it has been exactly this way for at least the 30+ years I’ve been practicing. And it is this way in every jurisdiction with which I am familiar. It is the natural career path for DAs and PDs.
Very few successful private practice attorneys are willing to take the pay cut and expose themselves to the scrutiny and monotony. State court benches throughout the country are littered with former DAs, former PDs, and former middling private practice lawyers. It is exceptionally rare to see a successful and competent private practice lawyer become a state court judge.
I had a settlement conference with Judge Crockett a few weeks ago. That man is a treasure. His whole demeanor is just perfect, like he walked straight out of central casting for a wise, kind old judge.
Tim Williams has turned out to be a good judge but he was not hugely successful as a private practice lawyer. Gonzalez, Kishner, Allf and Sturman all gave up practices of commercial litigation. Richard Scotti left HKJ/KJC to join the bench. Allan Earl was a top notch litigator. I am sure there are others, but the exceptions demonstrate the rule.
For non DAs, off the top of my head, David Jones, Jim Crockett, and Trevor Atkin were all excellent lawyers. I think believe Jacob Reynolds was also very good but I didn’t have enough experience with him as an attorney to say for sure.
I was born & raised in Texas, (south/southeast Houston/Galveston) and I had never heard of Bug Tussle TX before. Love the name. I had friends from Cut & Shoot, TX which is still my top town name, with Bug Tussle running a close 2nd.
Enough of the prosecutor to judge pipeline please (and the PD to judge pipeline can also stop)
Then tell the civil firms to actually go to trial and provide their attorneys with courtroom experience. Otherwise, if we are looking for courtroom experience, DA and PDs are going to be the seed corn for the foreseeable future.
Isn’t the reason the DA and PDs are the only ones moving onto the bench is that the lawyers in civil practice don’t want to take pay cuts? And they’ve seen that extremely qualified experienced civil litigators who were nearing retirement and willing to become judges don’t get appointed and don’t get elected. So why bother with the fool’s errand? Instead they hold their noses, make their money, and wind up having to appear before judges who don’t know shinola about civil law and who rule in ways that prove the same. The recipe for disaster is just about fully cooked.
And it has been exactly this way for at least the 30+ years I’ve been practicing. And it is this way in every jurisdiction with which I am familiar. It is the natural career path for DAs and PDs.
Very few successful private practice attorneys are willing to take the pay cut and expose themselves to the scrutiny and monotony. State court benches throughout the country are littered with former DAs, former PDs, and former middling private practice lawyers. It is exceptionally rare to see a successful and competent private practice lawyer become a state court judge.
Tim Williams is one of the few that I can think of.
Coffing would have been awesome. Absolute travesty.
Voters are so fucking stupid. They will never know what the public missed.
Aurbach as well.
Betsy Gonzalez
Trevor Atkin
Jim Crockett
I had a settlement conference with Judge Crockett a few weeks ago. That man is a treasure. His whole demeanor is just perfect, like he walked straight out of central casting for a wise, kind old judge.
Agreed. Rode Harleys with him a lot in the 90s-2000s.
Exceptions that prove the rule. Look what happened when Trevor tried to keep his seat.
Tim Williams has turned out to be a good judge but he was not hugely successful as a private practice lawyer. Gonzalez, Kishner, Allf and Sturman all gave up practices of commercial litigation. Richard Scotti left HKJ/KJC to join the bench. Allan Earl was a top notch litigator. I am sure there are others, but the exceptions demonstrate the rule.
Kishner, Allf and Sturman were all reasonably competent in practice, but certainly not superstars. Scotti and Earl were excellent lawyers.
For non DAs, off the top of my head, David Jones, Jim Crockett, and Trevor Atkin were all excellent lawyers. I think believe Jacob Reynolds was also very good but I didn’t have enough experience with him as an attorney to say for sure.
Jacob was also really good. More than a good lawyer, he’s good people.
I agree that he seems to be good person, which is invaluable.
I love u guys – seed corn – fully baked – yall from Des Moines
No. Bug Tussle, Texas.
I was born & raised in Texas, (south/southeast Houston/Galveston) and I had never heard of Bug Tussle TX before. Love the name. I had friends from Cut & Shoot, TX which is still my top town name, with Bug Tussle running a close 2nd.