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• Author: Mark Thompson/Elizabeth Smith
• Pages: 614-632

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O’CONNELL, Beverly Reid

Temperament/Demeanor

Judge O’Connell “is very personable. She is a wonder-

ful judge to work with. I have nothing but praise for her.

I think she’s a great judge,” one interviewee said. Another

said, “She treats everybody with dignity and respect. There’s

only one rule in her court: tell the truth.” Other interviewees

said Judge O’Connell has “good judicial temperament,” has

“great” demeanor and is “very nice” but “pretty straight.”

Intelligence/Knowledge

One interviewee called Judge O’Connell “one of the bright-

est, most intelligent and fairest judges to come along in the

last 30 years of my career. It’s unbelievable how good she is.”

Other interviewees were equally effusive in their praise for

Judge O’Connell’s knowledge of law. “She is incredibly intel-

ligent, and she is very smart,” said a prosecutor. “I think her

knowledge of law is phenomenal,” a criminal defense attor-

ney added. Another defense attorney, who noted that Judge

O’Connell is a former federal prosecutor, added, “She has

forgotten more about search and seizure than most judges

have ever known.”

On Motions

In her rulings on motions, a prosecutor said Judge

O’Connell “reasons them out. She follows the law. She will

look up any case you present to her. If you think it will sup-

port your position on a motion, she looks it up, she reads

it and she explains to you whether she is ruling for you or

against you and her rationale behind her rulings. You really

can’t dispute it when she follows the law, regardless of which

side you end up on. When she rules against me, I never take

it personally, because she explains her rulings and it makes

sense,” the prosecutor said. A criminal defense attorney

added, “She calls them just like she sees them. It doesn’t

matter if it’s a pound of dope or 100 pounds of dope, the

decision will be the same.” “I think she is well liked by every-

body,” defense attorneys as well as prosecutors, “because I

think she reasons out her decisions and goes by the law,”

a third interviewee said. “I don’t agree with the results all

the time, but I think she gives her rulings thought and she

makes the decision based on what the law is and regardless

of the consequences, which is all we can ask for.” Several

other interviewees offered similar observations. “She consid-

ers motions very carefully.” “She makes sound legal deci-

sions, and very, very good evidentiary rulings.”

On Trial

One of the interviewees who has tried cases in Judge

O’Connell’s court said, “She is a fine judge, the kind of judge

you want to try cases in front of again and again.” Another

interviewee said her court is “a good place for a good law-

yer but not a good place for a bad lawyer.” The interviewee

advised lawyers facing a trial in her court to “be prepared

and do your homework. She reads everything. Not only does

she read everything, she does her own research on top of

what you do.” Another interviewee who started a trial in

Judge O’Connell’s court added, “I think she is a good judge.

I have heard good things about her. I was picking a jury in

her court when the case finally resolved itself. She seems a

little rigid, but overall, I would give her high marks. When

she spreads her wings, she will become a better judge.”

Continuances

A deputy public defender with extensive experience before

Judge O’Connell said, “I have never had any problems with

her on continuances. Our staff in there pretty much knows

what we are doing. I have seen her give private counsel a bit

of a hard time. But I, too, would have hammered them when

they came in with bogus ideas for putting things over for no

particular reason and wasting people’s time. She is pretty

firm about running her court in a reasonable fashion, but I

don’t think she is unreasonable about continuing things. I

give her high marks for that. She is not easy, but she is not

difficult either.” Another interviewee said Judge O’Connell

“tries very hard to prevent cases from aging. Before she got

here, our court seemed to allow cases to age, and it was part

of the culture here. It was hard to break it, but she tried as

best as she can. If somebody comes up with good cause,

she has to grant the continuance. But she tries to stick to, I

think, a 120-day rule” for criminal cases. “She tries to make

sure the cases don’t age beyond that.”

Settlement

Judge O’Connell does not interject herself into settlement

negotiations unless asked by the parties, two interviewees

said. “She generally lets us do what we are going to do and

she will go along with it,” said a public defender. “She doesn’t

put a lot of pressure on one side or the other. She leaves it

open for both the district attorney and defense counsel to

resolve matters. So I wouldn’t say she is really proactive in

terms of settling cases.” The other interviewee, a prosecutor,

added, “If one side or the other, usually the defense, requests

a sidebar or chamber conference to discuss the case, because

they don’t agree with my offer or somebody else’s offer, cer-

tainly she will get involved. She will give both sides her per-

spective as to whether she agrees with my offer or not. But

she isn’t necessarily proactive to the point where she will offer

unsolicited input, other than to make an inquiry about what

the offer was and whether the defendant will go to trial. But

she will participate when requested, absolutely.”

Proclivities

Defense attorneys and a prosecutor who were interviewed

about Judge O’Connell were unanimous in praising her

sense of fairness. “I think she is evenhanded, both to the

prosecution and the defense side. She is very evenhanded,”

a defense attorney said. “She gives out a disclosure that she

is married to a deputy district attorney. But I have litigated

things in her court and I consider her to be very fair.” By

way of example, the attorney recalled a case in which she

displayed a willingness to reconsider her initial decision after

hearing of the defendant’s personal circumstances. “I just

did a sentencing with a defendant, a young man, who was

rather obstreperous in court. He didn’t have a bad record,

but she at first was reluctant to grant him fire camp. But

after I talked to her, she changed her mind and recom-

mended fire camp for this young man, which I thought was

a very fair thing to do.” Another defense attorney said, “If

every judge was like Judge O’Connell, being a defense attor-

ney would be a pleasure.” Two other attorneys praised her

as “one of the fairest judges” on the bench, and a judge who

can be counted on to make “good, fair rulings.”

Summary

Judge O’Connell won high praise from all interviewees,

criminal defense attorneys and prosecutors alike, for her

outstanding knowledge of criminal law and her carefully

considered and thoroughly explained rulings. She is a “won-

derful,” “phenomenal” judge, interviewees said. (09M)

O’DONNELL, Joanne B.

Temperament/Demeanor

Attorneys with experience before Judge O’Donnell seem to

be sharply divided in their opinion of her. Their main com-

plaint is that she is unpredictable in her rulings, or “off the

wall,” as one lawyer put it. For that reason, “A lot of attor-

neys will not accept her at all.” Some attorneys also believe

she lacks experience. However, another interviewee said,

“She lacks a lot more than experience.” But not even her

critics complain about her demeanor. “She’s very nice. But

she’s not one of the better judges in the building. Let’s leave

it at that,” one of the critics said. Judge O’Donnell has fans

as well as critics. They say she has improved over time after

overcoming some “adjustment issues.” And they have no

complaints about her demeanor. “I think she’s adapted very

well to family court. I’ve had very good experiences in her

court in terms of judicial demeanor and the like,” said one

of her fans. Others said she’s “pleasant to try a case in front

of” and she “gets high marks from me. I like her. She’s fine.”

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Intelligence/Knowledge

An attorney who called Judge O’Donnell highly unpredict-

able rated her knowledge of law as no better than “fair.” But

other attorneys praised her knowledge of law and especially

her high level of preparedness. After a slow start in family

law, a new field for her, her grasp of the field improved mark-

edly, said a family law attorney who pronounced her “up to

snuff.” Other attorneys said: “One of her strong qualities is

that she reads the papers. She really pays attention.” “She is

prepared. You can tell she is reading the materials.”

On Motions

With years of experience as a litigator in private prac-

tice, Judge O’Donnell is adept at handling motions, attor-

neys said. One attorney who was initially “hesitant” to try a

case before Judge O’Donnell, wondering “if she really knew

what she was doing,” ended up being highly impressed

with how she untangled a mountain of orders and motions

in one “horrendous case” with a “nightmare 10-volume

case file.” Judge O’Donnell “went through it item by item,

and ruled very cleanly on all the motions, cleaned up all

the prior orders, all the orders to show cause, and reduced

everything to one coherent order. I was very pleased.”

Other attorneys said: “She’s pretty good on evidence. And

she seems to have a pretty good handle on making appro-

priate orders.” “She seems to be willing to be flexible and

willing to listen.” Several attorneys who complained that

Judge O’Donnell is highly unpredictable were critical of

the way she handles motions. “She seems to take every

case on a case by case basis so it’s hard for attorneys to

know what one should do in her court. You have absolutely

no idea how she is going to rule, and she won’t tell you,

whether it has to do with witnesses, experts or anything

else.” Another critical attorney said: “I have done very, very

well in front of her but just recently I had another case

where she came out with the most bizarre ruling, which got

overturned on appeal. The fact that she is so unpredictable

is the biggest problem.”

On Trial

One family lawyer who has had several “full blown trials”

in front of Judge O’Donnell said that although she had some

litigation experience, she “wasn’t initially in tune with fam-

ily law in the beginning. But I think she has come up to the

standard.” Another attorney said she is liberal about allow-

ing evidence to be presented in trials: “She’s interested in

hearing everything there is to hear.” An attorney, who tried

two “huge cases” in Judge O’Donnell’s court, said she is very

good at “reducing the number of issues and moving the case

expeditiously through the process.” In one of the cases, “We

went into chambers, and she had outlined the pleadings, all

of the issues, she had flow charts of who was arguing what,

what had been resolved, and what was still on calendar.”

Continuances

“[Judge O’Donnell is] not necessarily averse to granting a

continuance if you have a good reason,” one attorney said.

Others agreed that she is reasonable and will give attorneys

more time if necessary. It helps that “she’s got a nice clerk”

who helps facilitate requests for continuance, an attorney

observed. But she won’t let cases drag on unnecessarily. In

one case, an attorney recalled, she made it clear she wasn’t

going to grant continuances and spent several hours resolv-

ing a number of issues then and there.

Settlement

An attorney with experience in settling cases before

Judge O’Donnell said she’s willing to help if asked. “When

I said to her that maybe we could talk in chambers “off the

record” to resolve a case, “she accepted the invitation when

some other judges might have said no. This particular case

required that. Some judges don’t want that. They want you

to come down and put on your first witness. They don’t want

to massage a case.” But she was happy to participate in the

settlement process. Another attorney said, “I’ve settled some

cases for her when I was the mediator and I know she was

very happy they settled. So I know she is in favor of settle-

ments. But I don’t know that she does anything particular to

cause cases to settle.”

Proclivities

Several attorneys said Judge O’Donnell is reputed to

favor the woman in family law cases. But in fact it is hard

to predict which side she will favor. “Speaking with other

attorneys, we think she favors women somewhat. But that

isn’t her biggest fault. Her biggest fault is that she’s too

unpredictable.” Two attorneys said that Judge O’Donnell is

so unpredictable that she “scares the [heck] out of them.”

“She gave me a phenomenal order, in favor of my client, a

woman, that was so unreasonable in my favor that it scared

the heck out of me. If she could do it in my favor, she could

do it against me,” one attorney said. Another said, “I don’t

boast when I do very well in front of her because she is just

as likely to come up with something else that makes no

sense. It’s not because of the merits. It’s not because she got

it. It’s because ... who knows why? That’s why it’s scary.”

Other attorneys disputed the criticisms. “I can’t say she

favors women. I represented a woman in front of her and

she took a waxing. There is unpredictability with all of the

judges, and she’s no worse than the others. In fact, I think

she’s doing much better now than when she first came on

the [family] court.”

Summary

Several lawyers contended that Judge O’Donnell is such

an unpredictable “loose cannon” that she “scares everyone.”

But another group of lawyers offered a strikingly different

assessment. “You may not agree with her interpretation of

the law every time, and she may not agree with your inter-

pretation of the facts,” one of her supporters said, “but I

tend to judge judges on whether they are prepared, whether

they’ve read the materials, know the relevant case law and

statutes, are listening to both sides, are helping move the

case forward. I would give her high marks in all of those

areas.” (01E)

O’MALLEY, Mary Ann

Temperament/Demeanor

Judge O’Malley’s mien seems to appeal to most inter-

viewees. They said, “It’s highly excellent,” “It’s wonderful.

Her demeanor is very pleasant,” “It’s outstanding,” “It’s very

professional” and “She’s friendly and outgoing.” Only one

attorney proffered mild criticism by saying, “[Her demeanor

is] usually good but she can be brash sometimes.”

Intelligence/Knowledge

The majority of the interviewees either said Judge

O’Malley’s legal knowledge is “excellent” or “above average.”

Others opined, “It’s well above average” and “It’s average to

above average.”

On Motions

Judge O’Malley’s courtroom management style was char-

acterized as entirely positive, though slightly variant terms.

Interviewees said, “It’s relaxed but businesslike.” “She main-

tains good control,” “It’s formal,” “It’s very efficient and some-

what formal,” “It’s somewhat relaxed” and “It’s formal and

professional.” Litigators said they appreciated this judge’s

courteous behavior. As one of them put it, “She’s polite

to everyone, including the attorneys and the defendants.”

Another lawyer agreed and said, “She’s 100% polite.” This

jurist was also praised for always taking the bench on time.

Attorneys said Judge O’Malley’s courtroom atmosphere is

usually best described as “comfortable,” “professional” or

“very comfortable.”

On Trial

Almost all of the interviewees said Judge O’Malley listens

closely to their arguments and keeps an open mind. The one

dissenting lawyer opined, “She listens closely, but she’s not

open minded about bail issues.” Every interviewee said this

judge moves her cases at a proper pace. In fact, half of them

described the pace as “appropriate [to each case].” Others

said, “She moves cases at an average” pace, “Judge O’Malley

keeps things moving at a good clip” and “She moves cases a

little faster [than her peers.] But she gives you enough time

to present your case.” Lawyers seem pleased with the way

Profiles O’Malley605

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