I have been thinking about running for judge for a long time. Here are my thoughts about what kind of judge I'd like to be, and how I'd like to run my courtroom.

In general, I want to be known as a judge who will do the right thing, and a judge that I would want to practice in front of. I never want an attorney or litigant to leave my courtroom thinking that they were not heard, that their point of view was not considered, or that the outcome was result oriented. Efficiency will be a touchstone of my court, but fairness will never take a backseat to judicial economy.

I plan to use, and will expect lawyers to use, every legal tool available to best serve their clients and the progress of the common law. I will expect lawyers to be prepared, and deadlines to be met. The approach that will drive pretrial litigation will be open and direct communication with me, multiple pre-trial conferences (taking advantage of simple telephone and video conference technology to schedule afternoon and evening conferences as needed and appropriate). We will minimize the number of times you actually have to appear in the courthouse in this way, and add, hopefully, to the quality of life for you and your families who may forget what you look like from time to time.

More specifically, I make the following promises to those who will appear before me starting on my first day in office in January 2009:

1. I promise a quick turnaround on rulings. I often get frustrated by motions that are never ruled upon. When they are eventually ruled upon, it is hit or miss whether I receive actual notice of the decision.

2. I promise to encourage the early filing of dispositive motions to ensure that I am prepared for the hearing on the motions, and have digested the relevant case law and statutes so that we may have a productive, and focused hearing that results in a ruling that is fast, well reasoned and thoroughly addresses the disputed issues.

3. I promise to take uncontested and brief matters first so that you are never in my courtroom for an hour behind a protracted summary judgment or discovery dispute. To that end, I will try to stagger hearing times throughout the day to minimize your wait time.

4. I promise to encourage the use of technology, including electronic filing, e-mail service of documents, and the use of computer presentations at hearings and trial to streamline the presentation of evidence and cut down on paper use.

5. I promise to encourage early trial settings where possible, with limited continuances so that the parties are motivated to do the preparation necessary and hone their cases to their essence, so that justice is not delayed. To this end, I will schedule early pretrial conferences as in federal courts to explore areas of agreement, isolate areas of disagreement, schedule discovery in detail, set a firm trial date, and explore early resolution through mediation.

6. I promise to encourage the use of jury questionnaires and similar devices to improve the efficacy of your voir dire.

8. I promise to let you try your case as long as you seem capable of doing so in an efficient and professional manner.

9. I promise to never let fairness take a back seat to judicial economy. I will be perceived as fair to all involved, giving a reasoned explanation for my decisions, and having an open mind about novel but well-reasoned and researched legal theories.

10. I promise to prevent the injustice of litigation through intimidation. Lack of resources should never be a bar to a full airing of one’s claims.

11. I promise to undertake to dismiss meritless cases early in the process, while ensuring that cases with merit get their day in court.

12. I promise to welcome reasoned Rule 202 pre-suit discovery requests with merit to encourage early reolution of disputes and the avoidance of frivolous lawsuits.

13. I promise to have a somewhat less formal atmosphere in my courtroom to focus on facts and justice and not allow procedure to be used as a trap for the unwary.

14. I promise to hold motion dockets on multiple weekday mornings, afternoons, or by phone or videoconference to minimize cost to parties and eliminate all unnecessary courthouse trips.

15. I promise to give parties 36-48 hours of notice for trial settings and give firm, preferential settings whenever possible so that parties know as early as possible that they are actually going to trial with firm settings.