While you and your colleagues are asking each other about which judge you’ve drawn to handle a particular case, the judge is likely having a similar conversation with his or her colleagues about you and your opposing counsel.

That’s a lesson Judge Jay Quam of the Fourth Judicial District Court of Minnesota says he learned when he took the bench. “We ask that question for the same reason as you ask who your judge is,” said Quam during a discussion on professionalism, ethics and civility in the courtroom presented yesterday by the ABOTA Foundation. “We have a whole bunch of cases, and we don't have the resources to handle those cases as well as we would like.”