The
Chicago Council of Lawyers today released a 25-page report detailing
its evaluation of United States District Judges in Chicago. Carrie
Huff, President of the Council, explained the Council's motivation
in evaluating the federal judiciary: "Federal judges, unlike other
public officials, tend to do their work largely outside of the
public's purview, attracting attention and critical commentary
only when they preside over a high profile case or render a decision
of great public importance. The vast majority of a federal judge's
actions are never reviewed by a higher court and are only rarely
the subject of public attention or scrutiny. Because the position
of federal judge is rightly afforded great deference and respect
by lawyers and others, candid feedback to sitting judges can be
all too rare. The Chicago Council of Lawyers seeks to fill this
gap by periodically providing candid and detailed commentary on,
and feedback to, those men and women who hold lifetime appointments
to the federal district court. The Council's judicial evaluations
are motivated by a desire to improve the quality of justice in
Chicago by offering the candid views of federal court practitioners
to the judges themselves, as well as to the public officials who
will be making future judicial selections."
Michael
Early and Peter Steinmeyer, Co-Chairs of the Council's Federal
Judicial Evaluation Committee, said, "We are very pleased to report
that the active federal bar in Chicago believes there are many
excellent and very good district judges sitting in the Northern
District of Illinois. Although there are certainly judges who
are held in lower regard than others, the Council received few
complaints of bias or lack of impartiality, and absolutely no
suggestions or hints of dishonesty, corruption, impropriety, or
blanket disregard of the law by any of the judges evaluated. It
is also worth noting that the bar's overall estimation of a judge's
performance appears to be unrelated to the judge's reputed ideological
leanings or to the party affiliation of the President who nominated
the judge to the federal bench. There are highly-regarded judges
of all political persuasions in this district, as well as judges
of all persuasions whose performance is less highly regarded."
This
is the first time since 1991 (when the Council last evaluated
the federal district judges) that any bar association has publicly
evaluated the federal district judges in Chicago. The Council
is not aware of any other bar association in the country that
has undertaken a comprehensive, public evaluation of sitting federal
district judges.
The
Council's evaluation was conducted by a group of more than 50
lawyers and reflects the views of more than 1,000 lawyers with
active federal court practices in Chicago.
The
evaluation of each judge was based on the results of a 30-question
written survey and personal interviews with at least 40 lawyers
who had substantial recent experience before that judge. The Council's
written survey requested information regarding the amount and
nature of the respondent's experience in federal court, then posed
specific questions about each judge's legal ability, integrity,
temperament, decisiveness, and diligence. It was mailed to 3,250
members of the Federal Trial Bar selected at random by the Clerk's
Office, as well as to all Assistant United States Attorneys in
the Chicago Office and all staff lawyers practicing with the Federal
Defender's Office in Chicago. The Council also conducted personal
interviews of more than 800 lawyers. Each interview included questions
regarding the judge's legal ability, quality of written opinions,
decisiveness, diligence, integrity, judicial temperament, fairness,
respect for the rule of law, and independence from political and
institutional influences.
Ms.
Huff and Messrs. Early and Steinmeyer are grateful to all who
assisted with this important project: "We would like to publicly
express our appreciation to the more than 1,000 active members
of the federal bar who gave us their candid views about these
judges and to the volunteer investigators and members of the Council's
Federal Judicial Evaluation Committee, who worked very hard to
make sure that the Council's Report is an accurate and fair reflection
of the views expressed by those federal practitioners. We would
especially like to thank the Council's Executive Director, Malcolm
Rich, who spent countless hours shepherding this important project
to completion."
The
Council plans to continue its evaluation of the federal bench
over the next several years. Next year, it plans to evaluate the
Northern District's Senior Judges and Magistrate Judges.
A
copy of the report will be available on the website of the Chicago
Council of Lawyers, http://www.chicagocouncil.org.
Source:
Chicago Council of Lawyers