My friend and honorable judge of San Francisco Superior Court- Tomar Mason
Attorneys Say Mason Is Sharp, Sweet and Slow
By Rinat Fried
The Recorder
June 18, 2002
Tomar Mason: The judge gets high marks for her courtroom demeanor, but some attorneys complain about short hours and long arguments.
Photo: Jenna Bowles
TOMAR MASON
BIO BOX
COURT: San Francisco Superior
APPOINTED: Dec. 31, 1998, via court consolidation
DATE OF BIRTH: June 1, 1951
LAW SCHOOL: UCLA School of Law, 1977
PREVIOUS EMPLOYMENT: S.F. Muni Court judge, 1991-98
Lawyers like appearing before San Francisco Superior Court Judge Tomar Mason. They just wish there was more time to do it.
Since her days at San Francisco's Hall of Justice, Mason has had a reputation for tardiness. That rap has followed her to the civil courthouse, where it continues to color an otherwise respectable judicial reputation.
"She's very sweet, she has a good sense of humor," said one litigator, speaking on the condition of anonymity. "The one thing that bothered me is she doesn't start real quick and she takes a long lunch."
Another attorney was more critical.
"She keeps incredibly short hours," said a civil litigator, a partner in a downtown San Francisco firm. "She actually seems to hold court only a few hours a day."
Mason says her court hours are 9 to 5, with some adjustments depending on the case. "I find it an interesting comment," she said. "I'll certainly talk to counsel about it in individual cases."
Attorneys are divided on Mason's judicial skills. Almost all attorneys praise Mason, 51, for her courtroom demeanor. They say she is patient, polite and pleasant. But several also say she lets attorneys argue too long and allows too much duplication in her trial procedure.
Several attorneys, even her fans, agreed that Mason could cut off arguments sooner.
"She is courteous to lawyers, she reads your papers, she looks up the law. I think she is one of the better judges around," said L. Jay Pedersen, a partner at Bledsoe, Cathcart, Diestel & Pedersen.
But, Pedersen, added, "If anything, she lets attorneys argue until they stop. She probably should stop them before the fifth go around."
Mason takes the feedback in stride.
"Great, I'm glad to hear this," she quips. "I'm going to cut them off from now on."
For one attorney, faced with trying a long prevailing wage case before Judge Mason, her patience was a virtue.
Since few state judges are intimate with the Employee Retirement Income Security Act and its terminology, attorneys in the case provided Mason with relevant statutes and commentary. Mason diligently reviewed the binder, which she modestly called "ERISA for dummies," recalled attorney Mark Thierman.
"Sometimes she had trouble with it, but she got back on track," he said.
In fact, a week and a half into the 20-day trial, Mason did something most unusual: She ordered the attorneys to present their opening statement all over again.
"At one point, she said, 'I will now have opening statements again because I finally understand,'" Thierman said.
"One thing that impressed me the most is that she was totally humble," he said. "This is boring stuff. . . . She gets a 110 percent for patience."
Mason has also been known to ask attorneys to preview their cases in chambers before the trial begins -- a habit that elicits mixed responses.
"I'm not a big fan of that procedure," said David Balter, staff counsel for the state's Division of Labor Standards Enforcement who recently tried a wage dispute in Mason's courtroom. "I think there is some duplication there."
But another attorney saw the procedure as a plus. "What I liked about her is she's willing to bring it into chambers and talk seriously about the strengths and weaknesses of the case," said criminal defense attorney V. Roy Lefcourt.
Mason says the previews are helpful to attorneys because, among other things, they are opportunities to hash out procedural issues and stipulations that help the trial move along quicker.
"I find that oftentimes counsel are very eager to talk to the court to alert the court to important issues," she says.
There is a greater consensus about Mason's people and communication skills, which lawyers say are her great asset.
"Unlike a lot of judges who don't have good communication skills, she is very easy to communicate with," says Deputy Public Defender Arcelia Hurtado. "She lets you know how she feels about a case."
Mason can be quite sensitive to the litigants in her courtroom, Hurtado added. For example, Hurtado recalled a client of hers, a veteran of the armed forces, who was sentenced to a diversion program.
"I remember him coming to court after he'd completed his program," Hurtado said. "She told him, 'You're a veteran?' He says yes. She says, 'I want everyone to give him a round of applause for serving this country and completing his program.' " According to Hurtado, the entire courtroom erupted in applause, moving her client to tears.
And when a pair of 90-year-olds appeared in court over a wage dispute, Mason was on the attorneys' case to make sure their clients were not excluded.
"At various times there were some issues in terms of people not being able to hear," said Balter, the labor standards attorney. "She made sure attorneys, including myself, spoke loud enough
