Today’s Daily Business Review ran the story, “Most judges fare well in bar poll” in a below-the-fold article giving the highlights of the biennial Palm Beach Bar Association survey. But the article doesn’t provide the raw data for you to peruse. For the full results on your favorite (or not so favorite) Palm Beach county and civil court judges, click here.
Bottom line: Overall, roughly 20% of the judges had excellent legal knowledge and 40% had an excellent demeanor. Evans, Lewis, McCarthy and McSorley were rated as having poor demeanors. More than half of the responding lawyers who appeared before Judge Corlew felt he lacked legal knowledge.
The DBR peppered their article with some interesting sentiments. The poll is intentionally NOT undertaken during election years and is reportedly not intended to be used as an election tool (which some suggest it has been in the past, vis a vis Lisa Small’s challenge of Judge Lewis in the last election).
The lead sentence of the article notes that, “for the second time in a row, Palm Beach Circuit Court Judges Diana Lewis and Timothy McCarthy were rated discourteous by more than of the lawyers…” but it is only deeeep in the article that we learn that less than 600 lawyers out of more than 5,300 responded at all. In fact, that lead sentence to the article is predicated on opinions of less than 200 lawyers who voted on Lewis and McCarthy. It was further suggested in the article that voters may only be those with strong feelings.