an Francisco Superior Court Judge Thomas Mellon Jr. often sits on the bench hunched over, peering over the top of his glasses and looking avuncular as he listens to lawyers argue.
But don't be fooled by the smiling face behind the snowy white beard and matching hair.
"He takes control of the courtroom," says San Francisco solo Paul Perdue, who has appeared before Mellon several times. "He won't let the attorneys run away with it. But he lets the attorneys try their cases."
One cardinal rule for Mellon: There are to be no delays once a starting time is scheduled, particularly when a jury is present. "We're not going to let them sit in the box waiting it out," he says. "I don't like sidebar conferences either."
Mellon says he encourages jurors to ask questions, submitted to him in writing, which he then relays to the appropriate parties.
"It's essential that if jurors have a basic question that it get straightened out early, because you can't go back," he says. "Jurors have to understand the science and engineering. I want them to understand what the experts are saying."
Mellon says he starts off the voir dire of jurors, "but I'll give the lawyers reasonable leeway in asking the panel questions."
Lawyers also should expect any misconduct in court to be dealt with swiftly and in public.
"If it's done in the courtroom in front of a jury, I will deal with it at that time," he says. "I will let them know that [their behavior] is inappropriate and shouldn't be repeated."
Mellon was appointed to the bench by former Gov. Pete Wilson after an 18-year business litigation practice, the last eight as a partner in the San Francisco firm of Henn, Etzel, Mellon & Weiss. Before that, the San Francisco native had worked as a legal services attorney in Merced and had clerked for then-U.S. District Judge Albert Wollenberg.
Mellon's judicial experience includes three years of handling family law matters, but he says he enjoys the give-and-take of the civil courtroom.
"We do everything from unlawful detainers to five-month asbestos cases," Mellon said. "The variety is one of the best parts of the job. You see a breadth that no one sees in [private] practice."
Mellon gets good marks for his settlement skills. It's an example of how his lawyering days prepared him for the bench.
"He picked up on the details and pointed us towards a settlement," said John Andrews of Los Angeles' Blecher & Collins, of a settlement reached in a breach of fiduciary duty case. "He puts the time in necessary to reach a compromise."
Matthew Poppe of Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe said Mellon runs a "cordial" courtroom with "less pressure."
"He seems to be a judge interested in a solution that would be workable for both parties," Poppe said.
