Judge Manuel Real is Not Too Scary

[WSJ_law_blog]

Chalk one up for Manuel Real. The Los Angeles federal judge and Law Blog staple (see here and here) has been repeatedly criticized for favoring one side over the other, for failing to adequately articulate the reasons behind his opinions, and for generally being difficult to deal with. Is there a more prolific newsmaker on the federal bench?

The judge yesterday won a victory in the 9th Circuit, reports the Daily Journal in Los Angeles (link unavailable, but click here for a blog post from the ABA Journal.) The court rejected a claim that Real should be replaced in a criminal case because defense lawyers were allegedly afraid of the judge.

The defendant’s lawyer, Ronald Richard of Beverly Hills, claimed that there’s “a generalized pattern of cowering by attorneys who appear in this district court.” But the 9th Circuit said the allegation was not supported by the record. “We note that neither [the defendant’s] attorney nor the government’s attorney faltered in the least bit in their arguments or retreated from their positions at the sentencing and restitution hearings,” the court held.

“I’m very timid in front of him, and my clients don’t get my best efforts,” Richards told the Daily Journal. “Part of being an experienced lawyer is knowing when to back off. He’ll be short with you. He won’t look at you. He’ll be cantankerous, and it’s not for the weak-kneed.”

But it wasn’t a total victory yesterday for Real. The 9th Circuit held that Real erred in sentencing the defendant and remanded it back to the judge for further sentencing.