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Friday, March 24, 2006
Ind. Courts - Five judges from Indiana named to top 500 list
A brief item in today's Indianapolis Star reports that:
An online legal site has named five Indiana judges -- including a Marion Superior Court jurist -- among the country's top 500.Here is the link to the four-color 60-page report from January 2006, complete with advertising. The 500 judges are in alphabetic order: Judge Barker - p. 8; Hamilton - p. 27; Magnus-Stinson - p. 36; Chief Justice Shepard - p. 50; and Justice Sullivan - p. 53. From the introductory article:The Lawdragon.com site, which provides legal referrals and legal news, determines the final list based upon peer review and its own independent research.
Marion Superior Court Judge Jane Magnus-Stinson was the only state trial court judge in Indiana who made the list.
Four other Indiana judges were honored, including Indiana Chief Justice Randall T. Shepard and Justice Frank Sullivan Jr. and U.S. District Judges Sarah Evans Barker and David F. Hamilton.
In compiling this guide, our staff of reporters contacted thousands of people throughout the United States: litigators, in-house counsel, prosecutors, law school professors, pro bono practitioners, bar association heads and users and providers of alternative dispute resolution services.See also the About page.Our guide to the 500 best public and private judges in the United States includes federal and state court judges at every level, and specialized courts including federal immigration, tax, bankruptcy and international trade. In a testament to the high quality of the federal bench, approximately one-third of the Lawdragon 500 is federal, although they represent a small fraction — less than 1 percent — of the more than 30,000 members of the judiciary nationwide.
California and New York figure heavily at both the state and federal level, both because of their size and the national influence these jurisdictions wield. Our guide, however, includes judges throughout the country and at every level, such as U.S. District Court Judge Lloyd George, who is a legend in Nevada; Shirley Abrahamson, a pioneering female judge on the Wisconsin Supreme Court; Victoria Marks, a much admired state court judge in Honolulu; and Isaac Borenstein, a criminal court judge in Boston.
A unique feature of the Lawdragon 500 is that it encompasses the vast realm of alternative dispute resolution presided over by retired judges, arbitrators and mediators, of which there are more than an estimated 20,000 nationwide. Unlike their counterparts in public service, the best private judges are well paid and highly sought after for high-stakes, complex cases. Often working in specialized niches, they command respect because of their intimate knowledge of the law. They also have an unparalleled ability to break logjams and find solutions. Singing the praises of one well-known arbitrator, a repeat client says, “He’s not afraid to get down and dirty to get the job done.”
Several interesting facts leap from our research. The jurist with far and away the most votes was 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Richard Posner, the law and economics guru from the University of Chicago, who also is known as the most prolific of writers. Difficult to categorize as either liberal or conservative, Posner nonetheless is cited for the brilliance of his opinions and his transcendent work in shaping antitrust law. Not far behind Posner are his colleagues on the 7th Circuit, Frank Easterbrook and Diane Wood, both of whom served on the Chicago faculty.
An October 2005, 50-page publication listing "The Lawdragon 500 Leading Lawyers in America" has only one attorney from Indiana. The entry, on p. 3: "Robert Armitage Eli Lilly and Co. (Indianapolis, Indiana) Patent reform is near and dear to this drug company lawyer and leading intellectual property thinker."
Posted by Marcia Oddi on March 24, 2006 07:38 AM
Posted to Indiana Courts