How to Choose a Trial Judge

Have you been in court and realized that if you ever had to go to trial there would be certain judges you’d want to stand before and others you would want to avoid? Do you actually have the right to pick a judge? Here are a few thoughts on that issue.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• copy of court procedures

How to choose a trial judge

1. The trial judge is scheduled by the Trial Court Coordinator and is not an issue open for discussion by the parties.
2. The court office does not take requests for judge preferences. This is called, judge shopping, and is not an acceptable court procedure.
3. The name of the trying judge is not usually known by the parties until the time of trial, so even the opposing party will not know who the judge will be until then.
4. If, when you arrive at trial you recognize the judge as someone you know personally or have had some kind of issue with, you have the right to ask for an adjournment of this matter so it could be heard before another judge. The reason you would do this is because if you won your case, the other party could appeal the judgment because they feel they were judged unfairly because you are friends with the judge.
5. If the judge recognizes you as someone they know on a personal basis, ie: you’re friends or neighbours or on the same social committee, that judge will adjourn the matter to be heard before another judge so that there can be no accusations of favouritism.
6. If there is some reason why you cannot go before a specific judge, it will be noted in your file and when the office schedules the proceeding, that judge will not hear it.
7. Certain judges hear certain types of matters, for instance often Family Court judges remain in Family Court matters and do not rule in Civil Courts. So, if you prefer a Family Court judge but are involved with a Civil Court matter, you probably won’t stand before that judge in any case.

Tips & Warnings

• Sometimes trial coordinators will select a certain judge for a specific kind of trial on the pre-requisite of their knowledge, experience and expertise in that type of legal argument. The judges, themselves, have no say in which trial they will judge over.
• If you feel that coming before a certain judge would give you a better chance of winning your case, perhaps what you really need to do is examine your evidence and make sure that you can fully support your claim. If you feel that there is a chance you could lose your case, then maybe you should consider settling the matter and avoiding a trial altogether.