James Donato

Pseudo-intellectual jerk with life tenure.

Uninformed, intellectually dishonest and painfully arrogant—and bluntly, somewhat sadistic toward younger and especially female attorneys. I have never witnessed this level of unprofessionalism in my nearly 30 years of practice, and find it shocking he's allowed to continue on the bench given the frequency and breadth of complaints.

The worst judge I have ever encountered. Lazy, arrogant, unprofessional, unprepared and seemingly irritated by his job. I've seen him berate a lawyer for calling him "sir" rather than "your honor." Very abusive to the attorneys who appear before him. He is unpredictable and mercurial. He often lectures counsel about his list of standing orders, but then enforces them inconsistently. He shows no regard for the costs involved in litigation and lets aggressive counsel abuse the system. He has a horrible memory and does not remember what happened in the last hearing - or even if the prior day of trial. He takes sides and rules accordingly. He seems thoroughly uninterested in doing a good job and seems to have forgotten the oath he took to administer justice.

Judge Donato regularly cancelled hearings on substantive motions the night or just hours before, thus forcing the parties to prepare for nothing as he would later rule on the papers. In those orders, both sides agreed that he regularly got the most basic facts surrounding the case blatantly wrong. He also failed to address numerous substantive arguments and seemed more interested in pushing the clients to settle than to actually deciding issues. If there is an easy route, he will take it.

The judge is tough but is very focused on getting to the right result. He's smart and willing to put in the time even on complex and novel issues. He's probably the leading judge on issues of ensuring class action settlement money gets to class members, issuing decisions that will be relied upon for decades.

The harsh comments had me scared before appearing in Judge Donato's courtroom. I too was admonished by the Judge for a fairly innocuous comment. However, I felt Judge Donato was fair, impartial, intelligent, prepared, and willing to entertain counsel's arguments when the proper deference to his office is expressed. He is actually one of my preferred judges in the Northern District. Bad comments are likely from counsel who have a higher opinion of their skill than is warranted.

I am in the early stages of a very complex and multi-party case with Judge Donato. So far he has been pleasant in the past 2 years with counsel on both sides, and issued clear decisions on motions to dismiss and related matters. A bit slow in getting the case organized to move forward which is frustrating, but understandable.

Worst Article III judge before whom I have ever appeared. Consistently and repeatedly betated the attorneys who appeared before him. Worse, he does not appear to have any trial experience before taking the bench.

Why did this man apply for a federal judgeship? He despises attorneys and his job. Worse yet, he has no idea how to try a case. My guess is that he carried Jim Brosnahan's bag to court and did a few arbitrations. The only thing with which opposing counsel and I agreed is that Donato was a complete nightmare.

Worst judicial temperament of any federal judge before whom I have appeared. Although we ultimately won the case, it was in no large part due to Judge Donato's Jekyll and Hyde demeanor. He was all smiles in front of the jury. But when they were not in the courtroom, he was the most unhinged when interfacing with the attorneys. I can honestly say that I have never seen a more egotistical judge, and I regularly practice in the Central District -- which says a lot.

Worst judge on the federal bench, bar none. I am a female attorney who tried a case before Judge Donato. Apart from having the worst judicial temperament I have ever seen, he treats female attorneys like second-class citizens. He is sexist, arrogant bully.

As a judge, its one thing if youre arrogant and smarter than everyone in the room. Its wholly another if youre arrogant and dumber than everyone in the room. Toxic combination. Also hates actually doing work and likes to pass cases off on other judges.

The manner in which he demeans the attorneys who appear before him is reprehensible. He is a walking and breathing argument for federal courts to adopt a rule akin to C.C.P. section 170.6

Worst judicial temperament of any judge before I have appeared. He appears to hate lawyers. He apparently has never tried a case before taking the bench, as he does not even understand the fundamental rules of evidence.

Fair, but tough judge

Judge Donato mixes a dangerous combination of arrogance, lack of understanding of the law and a lack of self awareness. He seems to be completely ego/power driven and appears to only care about belittling those unfortunate enough to appear in front of him. He is unaware of his huge gaps in knowledge, as demonstrated by an unfortunate display when he was sitting by designation on the 9th Circuit. Overall, it is a miserable experience being before him. He is a caricature of an arrogant, mean spirited and ill informed judge.

He has the worst judicial temperament of any judge in the N.D. Cal. and any judge I have ever appeared before. He is an arrogant bully on the bench. He claims to support development of young lawyers but he nearly ruined my career when I appeared before him as a young associate on behalf of my first big client by threatening to sanction me for filing a motion that was consistent with the federal rules advisory committee notes, controlling Ninth Circuit precedent, and decisions from other judges on this court. But he wouldn't allow me to open my mouth at the hearing except to answer his questions without further explanation. Needless to say the client never asked me to argue in court after that on any case. I've seen plenty of short-tempered judges, but Judge Donato is not just short-tempered: he appears to have a pure hatred and resentment for his job and he is taking it out on the poor folks who are forced to appear before him. I wish there were some way his colleagues could conduct some type of intervention to help him before he ruins too many lives.

Rude, impatient, will not listen to anything contrary to his poorly informed first impression, a bully of the lowest type. This may be the worst judge I have appeared before in 25 years as to demeanor. I sincerely believe he is mentally ill.

Very poor judicial temperament, unpleasant and arrogant. Seems like he is doing parties a big favor by presiding over trial and would prefer to be anywhere else. Poor case management, i.e., insists that trial date will happen prior to issuing summary judgment ruling, forcing counsel to re-submit all pretrial pleadings. Discourteous to both counsel but particularly to that of plaintiffs in civil rights matters. Rulings are poorly researched and reasoned.

He was prepared for the hearing and asked incisive questions of both sides. Runs a formal courtroom and expects attorneys to be very prepared for argument.