How to Deal with a Bad Judge

How to Deal with a Bad Judge

Many people are cynical about our legal system, especially lawyers and litigants in a custody or divorce case. There have been, and will no doubt continue to be, a number of cases where bad behavior is rewarded and honesty does not seem to pay; but overall, the system does work. A few bad apples are not representative of the whole judicial system. And that holds true, not only for lawyers, but for judges too. Most judges are fine public servants that are insufficiently compensated to listen to intolerable family sagas that most of us could not even imagine, and serve in their role because they care about other people and believe in the system. Nevertheless, just like lawyers, there is no shortage of bad judges. Unfortunately, I have had the displeasure of appearing before some of them and I thought I would offer ten tips about how you might handle your day in court. But first, what is a "bad Judge"?