be a judge.” The answers to that most basic of questions range from the stock “I’m interested in public service” to personal stories such as having been caught in the middle of a custody dispute as a child, according to Tubach.
And if an applicant has an exclusively civil résumé, it means something to hear that the candidate has spent time observing criminal courtrooms in anticipation of the evaluation process, according to Tubach. “We’re not the end-all-be-all of anyone’s career. But for many, being a judge is a pinnacle of their legal career. And it’s really important to them to get it right.”
Serving on the committee was “personally fulfi lling” to Tubach. “It was neat to interact with members of the bar I wouldn’t run across otherwise. I’m at a big fi rm and we handle big cases—I know all of the white collar and antitrust lawyers. It was really nice to get to know other lawyers” who serve on the committee.
For Cheng’s part, she says she was “excited to get in- volved. It’s a really important committee. It’s great vetting who the judges are. I’m a trial lawyer and a lot of my cases are in San Francisco so I have a vested interest.”
For all of the work put in by the committee, the absolute effect of the ratings is diffi cult to measure, according to Bowen. “It’s hard to say at the end of the day what the governor does with the information.”
The same goes for the voting public. “The governor is free to do what he or she feels is appropriate, and the same is true with elections,” Moye adds. “The rat- ing is advisory and the public can decide. They’re free to accept, reject, or give it whatever weight is appropriate.”
For example, in 2008, Gerardo Sandoval was deemed Not Qualifi ed by the BASF Judiciary Committee, but was still elected by voters, ousting incumbent Judge Thomas Mellon.
Tubach notes that in some judicial elections, “things turn political,” adding that, for example, Sandoval may have benefi ted from Obama’s parallel election.
KRYSTAL BOWEN
Although the BASF Judiciary Committee looks at the same objective criteria as the state bar’s Commission on Judicial Nominees Evaluation (JNE), the work done by BASF is more specifi c, providing a decidedly local per- spective on the candidate. “We do pretty thorough due diligence and part of what’s useful is that we actually know many of the people we’re calling as references for the candidates,” Tubach says. “That gives us a truly local, in-depth view of the applicant. We talk to forty or fi fty people for every applicant and if something seems off, we dig deeper and talk to people not on the list.”
Bowen adds, “BASF’s committee offers input on what San Francisco’s needs are and what we think is important. We can speak to needs of the BASF community.”
A former lawyer, Leslie A. Gordon is a freelance jour- nalist living in San Francisco and can be reached at
leslie.gordon@stanfordalumni.org.
Photos by Jim Block
THE BAR ASSOCIATION OF SAN FRANCISCO SAN FRANCISCO ATTORNEY 19
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