13 September 2003



It just doesn't pay to be rude in a courtroom:

(1) As a lawyer you cannot - even when the judge rules against you - turn to reporters covering the trial and sa[y]: "This bloke's a complete cretin. Surely they can't be all like this." Whether it's true or not, you will be found in contempt.

(2) In California you can be removed from the Bench for, among other things, "telling a public defender to 'lose his accent,' ruling against a rookie prosecutor to see how she handled it, disparaging the training and competence of another prosecutor before a jury and throwing a stack of files at a court clerk."

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