The survey covered County Court, Family Court and state
Supreme Court justices sitting in Orange. It was the first and last of its
kind.
At the time, Judge Andrew Bivona got high marks for moving
cases along in a timely way, for writing clearly and for being decisive. But
he got the survey's lowest marks 3, 3.2, 3.7 and 4.4 out of 10 in the
"patience," "non-arrogant," "open-minded" and
"courteous" categories. That dragged down his marks to 5.2 for
fairness and impartiality, and 5.5 overall the lowest in the survey.
And while an informal survey of a dozen lawyers still gives
Bivona high marks for his knowledge, the general perception is that, in the
words of one Family Court veteran, "I think Andy is a little mercurial. I
think he has a good understanding of the law of Family Court. He can be a
little impatient. I think he genuinely wants to do the right thing."
Bivona didn't have much use for the survey back then, and he
still doesn't. While more than half the bar association's 415 members at the
time answered the survey, not every judge was evaluated in every survey. The
conclusions were drawn based on an average of about 25 surveys per judge.
"It was fraught with the ability to stack
responses," Bivona said in a March 6 interview.
During the same interview, Bivona talked about his
reputation for being tough, even harsh. Generally, lawyers say Bivona has a
good knowledge of the law and moves cases along quickly.
Family Court judges say there's a divide between them. Some
judges see themselves as problem-solvers, helping people resolve their
differences so that children can have happier lives.
But others go out of their way to say they're not social
workers with robes. Bivona says, "I'm one of them. I figure that the
people who are in this court are here for a judge, because the court is their
best option."
In the 1998 bar association survey, Debra Jenkins-Kiedaisch
received a 7.8 rating for fairness and impartiality, and marks in the sixes
for her knowledge of the law. But that was five years ago, and lawyers tend to
see her now as cutting a middle path between Bivona and Carol Klein. In the
words of a lawyer who's been before all three, "The middle courtroom,
Judge Kiedaisch, is probably the most reasonable part to work with. To my
mind, Debra Kiedaisch is acceptable. Generally speaking, she's fair. I know if
I have something to explain that she will listen to it."
Klein, who was elected in 2000, was bluntly dismissed by
one lawyer as "lost." Another said, "Carol Klein is truly the
kindest, nicest, well-meaning individual that you will ever come across. But
she got elected because it was her turn, and that was itΨ
. None of it has
any bad intent. It's just a lack of knowledge. If you have clients that are
savvy, they're going to walk out of there scratching their heads."
A third lawyer, with more than 15 years' practice in Orange
County, said of Klein, "It's not the difference between smart and stupid.
It's the difference between being decisive or being seen as going back and
forth on your decision. I think it's a function of it being that she doesn't
have the arrogance that some people have when they become judges."
Klein said, "We all have different styles. Do I believe
surveys? That's not for me to decide. That's for the Bar Association to
decide." She pointed out that, like her colleagues, she's often on the
bench after 5 p.m. and sometimes doesn't leave until 6:30 or 7 p.m. And if
that's because she moves slowly, so be it.
"I'm a judge who asks a lot of questions," she
said. "That's how I get to where I want to go."