Whenever trial lawyers swap war stories, you’ll hear tales of nightmarish cases, evil clients and bad judges—jurists whose incompetence or impropriety somehow figured into the outcome of a matter. Of course, almost all attorneys have some bad outcomes, bad cases and bad clients over the course of their careers. These come with the turf. We accept them as part and parcel of our profession. Not so with bad judges.
Old-timers will tell you that judicial impropriety is more common than it ever was, and they try to take it in stride. New lawyers, experiencing it for the first time, don’t know how to react. Both usually roll with the punches. Dealing with bad judges is awkward at best. When you have a bad case, or even a good case that turns bad, you find a way to withdraw without harming your client. When you have a bad client, or a client that turns bad, you terminate the attorney-client relationship, provided you don’t injure your client. When you have an unscrupulous adversary, you seek penalties and sanctions. In rare instances, you may have to report an unfit colleague to the Ethics Committee per RPC 8.3. We have ways to handle such problems.
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