COURTS OF JUSTICE (Va. General Assembly) FINDS PRESENCE OF MOTHERS-ABUSED-BY-JUDGES AT JUDICIAL INTERVIEWS DISCONCERTING /From France to Mother Toad

[Mother Toad, 15 Dec 2007] While on a walk during the lunch break, another attendee and I overheard three of the legislators talking. They were talking about our presence in the hearing room. One of them said to the other two "I find it disconcerting that they are here."

Thoughts of a former family lawyer

BY SUSAN SPARKMAN
Saturday, December 15, 2007

Well Mom, I don't even know where to start, except to say that I am so glad I no longer practice family law… I'm really sorry to hear about the problems in Virginia courts. At least in Colorado, the lawyers were polled on whether a judge should be retained and the results of the poll were posted in the newspaper, along with the reasons for the position for and against retention.

Then the public got to vote on whether to retain the judges of their county. We dumped a number of bad domestic court judges this way. The problem is that judges are only people and they (most of them) bring all of their social experiences and prejudices with them to the bench. I once had a psychologist on a case (who was hired to make a recommendation as to whether the kids should be with mom or dad) tell another therapist (who then told me) that he couldn't stand my client because she reminded him of his mother!! JEEEZ, don't you think he should have removed himself from the case?

With so many moms being female (joke) and so many (most) judges being male (no joke), the odds of us (clients and their female lawyers) reminding them of their mom, their wife, or worse yet, their ex-wife or the girl who turned them down for the prom, is pretty darn likely…

It has only been a little over fifty years since the first woman was admitted to (allowed to attend) Harvard Law School (1954-56). Since the early '80's most law school classes across the nation have been at least 50% female, and in the past decade, frequently were more than half; women are slowly being appointed to the bench but still not in proportion to the numbers of female lawyers available.

There is a female chief justice on the Colorado Supreme Court and she told me that when she attended Harvard, she was hated by her classmates and she was regularly reminded that she was taking the place of a well deserving male who needed the degree to support his family.

I worry that young women today do not realize how recently it was that we didn't even have the right to an education! My sister wanted to go to the Air Force Academy in 1974. She was a national merit scholar, at the top of her high school class and her application was supported by our Texas Senator. She got a response from the Academy that if she wanted to wait, they would admit her in a year or two, but that they were not yet ready to admit women. When they did start, it was only a handful of women and they were ridiculed and harassed.

The military academies are the training ground for the military leaders of our nation. It takes a long time to turn the tide. Look at our country's resistance to having a woman for president. It's not just this woman (Hillary), although I am afraid she sparks much more controversy than a woman like Nancy Pelosi would engender.

When I was a teenager, I thought the "women's liberation movement" had won us equal rights… Rights mean nothing where equal treatment is not enforced.

{About Me: I'm a recovering lawyer and expat who left the US in August of this year (2007) to follow my dream of living in a small village in southern France. I look forward to the day I can say that I have completely recovered from more than a decade as a divorce lawyer and child advocate!}

Contact Susan Sparkman at:
http://sparkwoman.gather.com/

This comment can be found at:
http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474977204369&nav=Namespace

... In addition, there is an innate conflict of interest when legislators, many of whom are lawyers, select the judges whom they might appear before in court ... -Donald D. Litten for Virginia Business Magazine

[SPECIAL NOTE BY VW] Free CD of Judicial Interviews upon request.

Veronique Wyvell, RN
Member, Fairfax County Network Against Family Abuse
Founder, MOMMY GO BYE-BYE: Mothers Against Unjust Law
7831 Enola Street, #TA7, McLean, Virginia 22102
VWyvell@patriot.net

MAUL (Mothers Against Unjust Law) Goals:
Rebuttable PRESUMPTIONS Against Custody for Batterers
PPAs (Parenting Plan Agreements) before Litigation
Moratorium on CCEs (Child Custody Evaluations)
MINIMUM Parent-Time Schedules (UTAH Code)
JURY Trials (in Domestic Relations Cases)
PROTECTIVE Parent Reform Acts
DIGITAL Courtroom Records
ALI's Approximation Rule
TERM LIMITS for Judges

. . .
ADDENDA

… Here in Utah we too have our judges’ past work posted in the newspaper, along with the votes from lawyers for and against them. It is possible for us to throw a bad judge out. At least the information is there for those who want to see it … -Anna D.