GILROY
– South County’s three judges got high marks from attorneys as
the Santa Clara County Bar Association last week released the
results of its biennial judge survey.
GILROY – South County’s three judges got high marks from attorneys as the Santa Clara County Bar Association last week released the results of its biennial judge survey.
There are three judges at the South County courthouse in San Martin. Kenneth Shapero has been in this part of the county the longest, followed by Ray Cunningham and – new to South County but not to the bench – Susan Bernardini.
“The results of the survey reveal that, in the perception of the lawyers of Santa Clara County, the quality of our judges remains very high,” Bar Association President Lisa Herrick said.
The intent of the poll is to help each individual judge by providing constructive feedback, according to the Bar Association. It is not meant to compare or contrast judges or rank them in any kind of order, and the Bar Association warns that “such rankings distort and confuse the results and their purpose.” In fact, a different set of lawyers responded to each question on each judge, casting doubt on the statistical merit of comparisons between judges.
Lawyers were asked to grade each judge on each of six attributes: dispute resolution, impartiality, integrity, judicial temperment, knowledge of law and procedure and work ethic. In each category, a lawyer was asked to assign a grade of A through F. A meant “excellent,” B “very good,” C “satisfactory,” D “needs improvement” and F “unsatisfactory.”
Shapero scored particularly high on integrity, which the survey defined as “courage, independence and fair dealing.” Two-thirds of 27 respondents gave him an A for this. More lawyers responded to his evaluation than to the other South County judges’. Out of 157 total grades, he got 87 As (55 percent), 50 Bs, 18 Cs, two Ds and no Fs.
Cunningham received the most As of the three, amounting to two-thirds of his total marks. For judicial temperment – which the survey defined as “courtesy, patience, demeanor, and communication skills” – 79 percent of responding lawyers gave him an A, as did three-quarters of those who judged him on both impartiality and integrity. He got 96 As, 31 Bs, 11 Cs, 4 Ds and an F out of 143 total marks.
Bernardini was graded while she was serving in the northern half of the county. Her strongest marks were for integrity, for which 60 percent of 20 respondents gave her As. Fewer attorneys responded to her evaluation; she had 114 total marks, with no Fs and 2 Ds.
Judge Edward Lee was recently transferred to North County but was graded while in San Martin. He also got a positive review, although his feedback was not as congratulatory as that for the other judges. Out of 87 marks, lawyers gave Lee 22 As, 27 Bs, 25 Cs, 11 Ds and 2 Fs. He got his best response under the work ethic category.
The Bar Association’s judges’ survey is done every other year, on off-election years. This one was done in 2003, and the results were not released until March 3, the day after Election Day.
