Keeping with what appears to have become "judicial week" here on WWL:We've been receiving emails leading us to believe there is a growing uprising of attorneys who would like to voice their opinions regarding Discovery Commissioner Bonnie A. Bulla and her, let's say, "demeanor" lately.
We are happy to provide a forum for such comments, with the following caveat: keep it above the belt. We're not trying to turn this into a bash-fest.
Keep in mind that Comish Bulla is (very likely) a reader (or about to become one), and she may take some of your constructive criticism to heart. Hey, we're trying to be optimistic here.
So you have some background for the discussion, here is an excerpt from one of the emails we received:
There is a growing, but silent, consensus that our Discovery Commissioner is tantamount to the Red Queen in Alice in Wonderland. She might as well just say "off with their heads" for all the actual nonsense that actually does spew forth from her courtroom. I know that there are countless stories of the petty reasons folks have been summoned to appear before her majesty. I just spoke with another practitioner who said that he spent 2 1/2 hours with her and of the 35 items she heard, only 2 were actual discovery disputes, the rest was her scheduling nonsense. Her courtroom is packed to the gills, but if you stand outside, you risk missing your item because she calls things out of order. I am particularly fond of her new practice of sanctioning attorneys who don't appear on matters that don't involve their client. Plus, she makes Judge Leavitt look like a pleasant, cordial jurist. Her behavior is unprofessional, rude and bordering on dictatorial. The sad thing is, there's no way to avoid her because she is the discovery monopoly. I would love to have a mass call-in day to Judge Gonzales where everyone just unloads. I'm willing to bet Judge Gonzales has no idea about the insanity that now reigns on the Fifth floor. I never thought I'd say it, but I miss Tom Biggar.So, commenters ... your thoughts?
