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DURHAM — Senior Resident Superior Court Judge Orlando Hudson on Friday downplayed a N.C. Bar Association survey that gave mixed grades to him and other western Triangle judges.
“Ultimately, I don’t really know how useful it is,” he said of the survey, which gave lawyers opinions’ about 13 Superior Court and 147 District Court judges who are up for re-election this year.
The survey indicated that the surveyed lawyers who have practiced in Hudson’s court regard him as a “good” judge.
But his overall score — 4.03 on a scale of 5 — ranked ninth out of the 13 Superior Court judges across the state who have signaled that might run this year for another term.
Hudson is the only Durham-based Superior Court judge whose term is up this year. The other three — Elaine Bushfan, Jim Hardin and Mike O’Foghludha — are on a different election cycle and weren’t rated in the survey.
The association similarly polled lawyers on only one of Durham’s six District Court judges, Drew Marsh. They rated him just above “average,” giving him a 3.35 score that ranked 134th on the District Court list.
Hudson, who has been on the bench since 1989, said he didn’t think the association’s survey was “very scientific,” though it was clear to him the group is serious about beefing up its voter-education effort.
“I’m not sure how much weight the public should give the survey, but it’s certainly something lawyers have made it clear they’re going to do,” he said. “They’re going to evaluate the judges, and we can’t stop that. So we have to make the best of it.”
He added that he was “pleased” with his showing.
“I think 4 out of 5 was not bad,” Hudson said, adding that he thinks individual judges would alter their approach to cases only if they saw “some points you think are really valid” in the way of criticism from lawyers.
The judge indicated he also suspects lawyers’ opinions of various judges might be influenced by how well their cases fare.
“I want the lawyers to like me and be happy with my decisions. But in a typical case, with two parties, somebody’s going to win and somebody’s going to lose,” Hudson said. “The person who wins is going to be happy with the judge most of the time, and probably the person who loses is not going to be happy.”
“Judges are like most people in that they want lawyers to like them,” he added. “But on some judges’ list, that’s not a high priority.”
A Durham criminal-defense lawyer, Bill Thomas, on Friday acknowledged that he’d participated in the survey and praised the bar association for putting it together.
“I thought the questions were well-considered and I think the process is a very fair process for evaluating judges,” he said. “I certainly applaud the efforts of the N.C. Bar Association to inform the public about judges who are up for re-election.”
The bar association is a trade group, not to be confused with the N.C. State Bar, a regulatory agency that has a state mandate to handle disciplinary matters in the legal profession.
The association survey rated judges’ integrity and impartiality, legal ability, professionalism, communication and administrative skills.
Hudson scored highest for his professionalism, Marsh for his administrative skills.
The survey also covered three judges based in Orange and Chatham counties who are up for re-election this year.
District Court Judges Charles Anderson, Lunsford Long and Beverly Scarlett ranked 36th, 94th and 107th on the list, respectively.
Anderson got a 4.44 score, Long a 4.05 and Scarlett a 3.91. Lawyers graded Anderson and Long best for their legal ability and Scarlett for his communication skills.
Thomas said he “was not surprised by any of the ratings” and thought Durham’s judges had “all fared fairly well.”
A score of 4.27 was the mid-way point in the Superior Court ratings and a 4.21 was the midpoint in the District Court ratings. Both equated to a score slightly better than “good.”
