Appointment/Election: Appointed by Governor Davis to a term commencing on Sept. 12, 2002 (oath same day).

Past Judicial Office: Pro tem, L.A. Superior Court.

Past Employment: Harrington, Foxx, Dubrow& Canter, L.A., 1979-2002.

Memberships/Awards: L.A. Boys & Girls Club (Board of Directors, 2002); Pasadena Heritage (Board of Directors, 2000-02); AIDS Project of L.A. (Board of Directors, 1996-02).

Education: J.D. (1979, Law Review), Seattle Univ., Seattle, Washington; B.A. (1976, Political Economy), The Colorado College, Colorado Springs, CO.

Teaching/Lectures/Panelist: Adjunct Professor Southwestern Law School, Fall Semester 2006— (Family Law, Community Property).

Personal: Born November 2, 1954; Colorado Springs, CO.

Admission: Admitted to Calif. Bar, Nov. 1979.

Office Address:    111 North Hill Street, Dept. 46
            Los Angeles, CA 90012

Phone:        (213) 974-5554 (Main)


Temperament/Demeanor
Judge Juhas has “one of the greatest dispositions I’ve ever seen on the bench. He is a delight,” said a family law attorney in Antelope Valley, who appeared often in his courtroom before he moved downtown. Others interviewed about Judge Juhas said, “He has a pleasant judicial demeanor.” “I don’t think I’ve ever met a judge who is more courteous.” “He has good demeanor on the bench.” “Bombs can go off in his courtroom in terms of the level of argument and he’s always fair. I never saw him get personal with anyone or angry at anyone, which was amazing.” After just a few years on the Antelope Valley bench, Judge Juhas was named judge of the year in 2005 by the local bar association, several interviewees noted.

Intelligence/Knowledge
Attorneys who have known Judge Juhas since he was first appointed to a family court marveled at how quickly he learned the law. “His background was insurance defense work,” one attorney recalled. “I have never seen a judge without prior family law experience integrate so effectively into the family law arena. He is very bright. He researches the law. If he hears a legal argument in the morning, he’ll pull the case during the noon hour. It’s amazing how quickly he grasps the concepts.” Several attorneys noted that Judge Juhas regularly attends continuing legal education seminars on the law. “He’s definitely not trying to wing it, as some other unnamed judicial officers who have been rotated into family law do,” said one attorney. Another, commenting on his attendance at bar events, added, “He’s one of the few [judges] who will show up at CLE seminars on Saturday. I’ve seen him at a couple of all-day seminars. For someone who isn’t paid enough for what they do, to put in that time, it shows to all the attorneys that he knows what we know.” Others said, “He has an amazing ability to grasp difficult concepts. You’re not going to leave him behind. When he wasn’t up on the law, he had no problem looking at you and saying that’s not an area he’s completely comfortable with. Give me a brief on this. See you in two days. Give me a couple of days to research it.” “He is very bright, well-read. He understands the material. I was impressed by his knowledge, by his demeanor, by his reading of the material.”

On Motions
Interviewees said Judge Juhas’s rulings were well thought out and the judge often did his own extensive research. “His reasoning was very thorough on the law so, even if you didn’t agree, you knew exactly why he did it,” said one. Others said, “I think everyone agreed that he threw his entire intellect and energy into the decision. He was not flippant in any way on the decisions he made on a daily basis.” “I did a couple of cases with complicated jurisdictional issues, involving different states and people who had moved around. The children were older, so the issues were different and fairly sophisticated. He handled it with no problem.” Judge Juhas effectively whittled down issues in cases, interviewees said. “He is hugely talented. He has people skills like you wouldn’t believe. And he can deal with high-brow, stuck-up lawyers that think they can run the courtroom. He’s a problem solver. That man can handle anything.”

On Trial
Attorneys said Judge Juhas is very hard working. “He is always prepared,” said one. “He expects you to be prepared. He would read all the files beforehand and if you didn’t know what happened four court appearances before, you were in trouble because he knew.” He is, however, flexible, as he illustrated when he shelved a plan to commence work at 8 a.m. for mandatory settlement conferences. “When he couldn’t get attorneys to be there at 8 a.m., he changed to the noon hour. He ramped up the trial calendar so trials were on Thursdays and Fridays, and for the first time in history, trials got started and completed.” Another said, “He likes to accommodate lawyers’ schedules. When he can, he allows attorneys to appear telephonically. He would allow certain levels of informality if it’s stipulated to between the attorneys. He wouldn’t require formal paperwork. He was interested in helping clients save money on fees by not requiring paperwork.” In Antelope Valley, Judge Juhas made a number of other changes in the way cases are managed, such as setting aside one or two days a month for cases in which both parties were unrepresented. “He made sure staff was ready to roll on those days to help folks get through the system.” In his first months on the family law bench downtown, lawyers wondered if he would be able to handle the caseload. “The challenge for him is going to be to adjust the high intensity work material. A higher percentage of the cases downtown are actively litigated.” Attorneys in Antelope Valley were sure he was up to the task. “Bombs can go off in his courtroom in terms of the level of argument and he’s always fair. I never saw him get personal with anyone or angry at anyone, which was amazing,” said one.

Continuances
With Judge Juhas, attorneys said, it was “not difficult to get a continuance, as long as he believed that it was for a productive reason.” In his first year on the family law bench, he was far stingier with continuances. But one day, he met for a brown-bag lunch with family law attorneys and heard their plea for more lenience. “We explained that family law is a roller coaster. Circumstances change all the time. Certain things come up that require more time.” The message got through to Judge Juhas. “After that first year, he adjusted to that way of thinking and began to recognize that at certain times, you have to continue a trial or order to show cause. He was able to distinguish good cause instead of someone who just wasn’t ready. He was very perceptive to see if the continuance was designed to maintain leverage.” If he decides that a lawyer is delaying a case for illegitimate reasons, he would refuse all further requests for continuance. When he got to that point, “he meant settle or be ready for trial,” a lawyer said. Another lawyer concurred that Judge Juhas is flexible about scheduling issues. “He would make accommodation for a medical issue by the attorneys or the parties. He would also give leeway to key witnesses that were necessary for the trial to go foreword but were not available. If the parties were going to get together and try to iron out their differences informally, he would applaud that. But he did not give continuances willy-nilly. Generally speaking, he didn’t like to have continuances because he wanted to go through his calendar, hear the case and get the case resolved.”

Settlement
Judge Juhas is “a very good settlement judge,” said one interviewee, adding that he informed attorneys for both sides, “If you ever need my help [in settlement negotiations], let me know.” Others concurred. “Unless he’s taking evidence in a trial or a hearing, he’s always trying to promote settlement. He had such a heavy calendar that the amount of time he could devote to doing an off-the-cuff mandatory settlement conference was rare. So instead he would decide to do some at lunch or an hour before court started in the morning so that he would try and get people to reach agreement on the cause they were trying to litigate and avoid having to go through that … At every point he would try to remind the litigants that you have to look somewhat to the future. He would tell them that if they continue to litigate a matter and don’t reach an agreement, especially in a custody context, they might find that the acrimony never dies.” Another attorney added that Judge Juhas has the attitude that “if you’re a great litigator, let’s see what you can settle. Without absolutely going to the mat to have things settled, he was very practical on settlement matters matter. He would say, let’s do a meeting during lunch, go on record at 1:30 and get these people’s problem solved.”

Proclivities
All interviewees described Judge Juhas as fair to both sides. “He ultimately ruled even-handedly. You never detected a bias. He was not a father’s judge or a mother’s judge. He administered the law even-handedly.” “He has no gender bias. He was willing to give everyone before him a proper hearing. He tries to understand the position being offered by both sides and to make a decision based on the law and his evaluation of the facts and the law together.” “I’ve always found him to be fair, to be enthusiastic, to have read all the papers and to have read all the cases that pertain to the paperwork. So he’s fully prepared to hear the case. That’s very much appreciated by the attorney.” “The thing that impressed me about Judge Juhas was that regardless of how emotional or angry an attorney or litigant got, his ability to be fair in the face of that was amazing. He’s a really good guy.” One interviewee from Los Angeles who appeared before Judge Juhas in Lancaster said he clearly favored local counsel. “I was not impressed by the fact that he seemed to hesitate to apply strict procedural rules to the Lancaster bar.” Attorneys in Lancaster dispute that suggestion. Judge Juhas “was really good about making sure that both sides were compliant with the local rules. He was very good about assuring that both attorneys knew they had to be prepared. And he did it very good naturedly. I don’t know an attorney who didn’t like him.”

Summary
Family attorneys with extensive experience before Judge Juhas seem to think very highly of him, calling him “quite extraordinary” and possessed of “an incredible judicial mind.” He is very hard working and prepared for cases. So lawyers, too, had better know their cases well.