b'Spring/Summer 2019Page 9 Judge Autumn D. Spaethshould consider whether the judiciarys limited resources are truly needed to resolve a dispute. (Continued from page 7) So, what advice does Judge Spaeth offer law-particularly formative: Judge Spaeth servedyers practicing in her courtroom? as the co-chair of the Central District of Cali-fornia Lawyer Representatives to the NinthIaskthatattorneystrytoresolveasmany Circuit Judicial Conferencean experienceissues as possible and bring to me the remain-she says marked her first steps toward theingissuesthatrequirejudicialintervention.bench. Serving as a Lawyer RepresentativeCounsels ability to do this is the true mark of isaninvaluableexperienceforanyfederala professional, in my opinion.Civility among practitioner.It allows you to meet lawyersthelawyersis,ofcourse,expected.Judges andjudgesfromaroundtheNinthCircuitread body language and facial expressions, and and gives you the opportunity to see beyondboth affect our perception of your professional-thebench,intotheinnerworkingsoftheism. Court, she says. The more I interacted withWhenacourtroombattlecannotbeavoided, the judges in the quasi-social setting of theshe advises attorneys to focus their arguments Conference, the more I realized I wanted tonot just on their clients goals, but on jointhem.WhentheCentralDis- the right result. The lawyers role in trictannouncedanopeningforaJudges read bodytheadministrationofjusticeisto newmagistratejudge,sheapplied. The rest, as they say, is history.language and facialhelp the Court reach the right result expressions, and bothwhileadvocatingtheirclientsposi-Judge Spaeth has stayed involved inaffect our perception oftion. An attorney seeking to improve theNinthCircuitJudicialConfer- your professionalism.the chances of success should brief all ence and is currently serving as thethelawandinformationJudge Chair of the 2019 Conference.SheSpaethneedstoreachthedesired isthefirstmagistratejudgetoserveasruling and be sure to address the other sides Chair of the Conference in more than a dec- cited legal authority. Be sure you provide the ade.Most new magistrate judges experienceburdenofproofandstandardofreviewthat asteeplearningcurveastheytogglebe- applies,forexample.Tellmewhowinsina tweencriminalandcivilmattersontheirtie, and why. dockets. Arraignments andhabeas petitionsAbove all, Judge Spaeth says that she is hon-are usually not second nature for former civilored that she was given the opportunity to join litigators.Butwhenaskedtodescribethethe federal bench and serve the people of the challenges of her new role, Judge Spaeth al- CentralDistrictofCalifornia,includingthe so noted the high volume ofpro secase fil- attorneys that practice here.She says, it is a ings.Thesearelitigantswithoutlawyersgreat thing when your day job is a community tryingtonavigatethecourtsystem.Fromservice. Federal practitioners, the Federal Bar the perspective of a judge, I have a new ap- Association,andthegreatercommunityare preciation for how much work goes into guid- fortunate to have her service ingthemthroughthesystemandhowin the Central District. much is at stake, she says. The experience also underscores the important role lawyers*MattWegnerpracticesin-playinthecasesbeforethecourts.Casetellectualpropertylitigation management is a challenge, she says, due towith Brown Wegner LLP. the Central Districts high volume of cases. Lawyers play an important role in the ad-ministration of justice, she says. Attorneys'