By Libby Yin Goodknight, Krieg DeVault LLP
A recent dissenting opinion from an appellate judge in Florida serves as a good reminder for appellate practitioners and, for that matter, all litigators, about knowing your judge and attention to detail. As the ABA Journal reported in this article, Judge Martha C. Warner of the Fourth District Court of Appeal in Florida used a dissent to point out an attorney’s error in referring to her twice as “he” in a motion to certify a case to the Florida Supreme Court. While recognizing that gendered pronouns can be “tricky in this day and age,” Judge Warner went on to observe:
[T]his error reveals the tenacious grip that the male image has in the legal profession to the detriment of women who have joined the profession in droves since I began practicing forty-eight years ago. It still is an issue that women are mistaken for court reporters or paralegals by both judges and lawyers. No man would suffer that same misidentification, which relegates the woman to a less important role.
We all need to be cognizant and remove from our thinking the male centric image of lawyers and judges. It is not hard, but it requires raising one’s consciousness of the issue. And it is somewhat of a surprise that it has persisted for so long. After all, the iconic figure holding the scales of justice is a lady.
J.S. v. Department of Children and Families, No. 4D21-1923, ___ So.3d ___, 2022 WL 163922, at *1 (Mem) (Fla. 4th DCA Jan. 19, 2022) (Warner, J., dissenting).
Interestingly, Judge Warner has commented on this issue before. In Gore v. State, 74 So.3d 1119, 1123 (Fla. 4th DCA 2011) (Warner, J., concurring), she explained: “It is easy enough to find the gender of a judge, either from Westlaw or LexisNexis, or by going to a court’s website and finding the judge’s biography. In this day and age, mistakes like this should not be made and it shows inattention in brief-writing that should be avoided.”
Judge Warner’s important lessons about personal pronouns apply to the formal names of judges as well. Lawyers should make sure they correctly spell and pronounce the names of the judges before whom they appear. If a judge’s name is difficult to spell, add it to your spellcheck dictionary so that any errors are caught in the proofing and editing process. If you are not sure about the pronunciation of a judge’s name, ask a colleague or attorney who knows the judge, or call the court staff. Remember, it is sometimes the little things that can make or break your credibility as an advocate, and that can turn your work product and delivery from good to great.
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