I tried a 50-day bench trial of a business dispute with multi-million-dollar stakes before Judge Daniels.
I tried a 50-day bench trial of a business dispute with multi-million-dollar stakes before Judge Daniels. The pandemic stretched that trial out over 18 months that occurred after pre-trial practice that spanned over a year. In about three years of regularly appearing in his courtroom, I found him to be fair, evenhanded, and patient to a fault. I also found his staff helpful, attentive, and effective. Judge Daniels does an excellent job of calling balls and strike and on those occasions where I believed he got one wrong (generally by overruling one of my surely well-placed objections at trial) I understood why he was doing it in the end. He will spend the time and the effort to personally understand the law on complex matters, he will know the briefing on your motions, and he will apply the law to the facts before him dispassionately. In my case, I wish he had been less patient with an opposing party who was truly obnoxious about wasting the Court's time and mine with obvious factual falsehoods and ridiculous legal positions. I also wished that he was more willing to take bold action in orders and findings to rebuke that same party. I know, however, that those traits - an abundance of patience and caution in ruling - are in fact good ones in a judge, even if they frustrated me in my particular matter. Having tried and argued cases throughout most of Northern California's state courthouses, I rate him as one of the best judges in the region, in a tie for best judge I've been before with four others who share his substantial intellect, work ethic, and commitment to applying the law fairly and making all parties to the litigation feel heard and respected.