The Daily

Judge on a Hot Mic Catches the Wrath of a Trial Lawyer

‘Can you imagine waking up next to her every day?’ said the Judge about Bill Cosby’s criminal defense lawyer, forgetting that he was being livestreamed.

Now, that Judge is facing a complaint.

Decorum is a real thing and it runs both ways. If you are a trial lawyer, you’ve danced this dance with a judge. You don’t win every argument and sometimes things get heated as you try to preserve your record. Judges are human and get tired of lawyers going on and trying to take control of their room. I know I’ve angered jurists and I’ve probably gone over the line a time or two. During a heated deposition of a defense expert witness psychiatrist in a med mal case, I was threatened by the witness with involuntary commitment in Louisiana – probably insane proceedings that would have been governed by the Napoleonic Code. I escaped that awkward interlude and ate turtle soup at Galatoire’s that night. Reveling in my just threatened freedom that night, I enjoyed the French Quarter more than I ever have. Sometimes, decorum is over rated.