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The recent Civil Bench-Bar Meeting had great attendance. Several interesting discussions shed light on new Supreme Court Decisions, proposed rule changes and courtroom decorum. A subject that generated a lot of discussion was judges’ pet peeves. The top 10 are listed below.
Judges’ Pet Peeves
- Impolite/uncivil attorneys (including those who interrupt).
- Attorneys’ lack of preparation.
- Putting exhibit on Elmo (monitor) and showing to jury without prior motion to admit and/or publish.
- Asking prospective jurors voir dire questions based upon hypothetical, which seeks to have them pre-commit to verdict in violation of EDCR 7.70(c).
- Cutting side deals for extensions of time…and forgetting to tell the Judge.
- Filing Oppositions/Replies at the last minute and expecting the Judge to read them.
- Requesting to appear at hearing by telephone, and then providing the Court a non-direct telephone number to attorney. That is, the telephone number is directed to the attorney’s receptionist, who forwards the judge’s call to the attorney’s secretary, who forwards the call to the attorney or worse—his voice mail or says he’s not available. (not all departments use CourtCall)
- Failure to timely provide courtesy copies with tabs for exhibits.
- Failure to comply with NRCP 56(c) (statement of uncontested material facts with supporting citations to evidence in the record) and the Choy case, 265 P.3d 698 (affidavit required for 56(f) continuance.
- Providing stacks of depositions that are not excerpted to make the relevant parts easy to locate.
Other recommendations that came out of the discussion include a suggestion that attorney read trial orders to cut down on question in the courtroom. And, when sending and order, on the last page include a description of what it is and the case number. A lot was covered and a tasty lunch was sponsored by the judges. The next civil Bench-Bar meeting will be Aug. 13 at 12:05 p.m. in courtroom 15D.
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