Although former Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge LaDoris Cordell recalls providing feedback to young lawyers who asked about their courtroom performance, she wouldn’t comment today if asked. That’s because the California Supreme Court Committee on Judicial Ethics issued an opinion on the matter that she says is prohibitive.
“The reason lawyers want feedback is they want information that they can immediately use to help them do better and not just do better because some just want to understand a particular judge,” Cordell told the Southern California Record. “If I'm a lawyer who is going to appear in front of a judge quite a bit, I really want to get a handle on what the judge likes and doesn’t like.”
The Committee decided that judges may provide feedback when requested by attorneys or their law firm supervisors but only under certain circumstances.
“Judicial officers who elect to provide such feedback must avoid discussing their own assigned matters until final resolution; refrain from discussing matters pending before other judges or courts; ensure that the substantive nature and tone of any feedback is neutral; and be equally available to provide feedback to attorneys representing various interests or viewpoints,” the Dec. 15 opinion states.
The opinion was issued only after considering public comments, according to a press release.
“I think that the way the rule is fashioned and all the prohibitions that have been put on it by the court, very few judges will be giving feedback to lawyers so I don't think lawyers should get their hopes up,” said Cordell who worked as a judge from 1982 to 2001 and authored a book called Her Honor.
The opinion included restrictions such as:
Not providing feedback for employment purposes.
“Basically, this opinion says you should not do that so if an employer wants to know how a lawyer is doing, that employer needs to go to court and watch the lawyer,” Cordell said.
Not engaging in prohibited ex-parte communications.
“The rule is that any communications to or from the judge when it is outside the presence of all the parties is prohibited so what they're getting at is that you can't pull somebody aside and give them feedback about how they did in a particular case and of course you can't do it when the case is pending,” Cordell said.
Not commenting on a pending proceeding or nonpublic comment that may interfere with a fair trial or hearing.
“We all know that appeals are taken and as long as appeals are still going on, the case is pending,” Cordell added. “It does not take a week for appeals to be heard. It takes years. So, how useful is it going to be for a judge to wait four or five years out, to give feedback to a lawyer who was in the judge's court back then? It's not very useful.”