hen attorney James Donnelly argued before San Francisco Superior Court Commissioner Marjorie Slabach that Indiana was the land of the intellectually challenged, he found himself in one of those "uh-oh" moments lawyers just hate.
"I stupidly said, 'Particularly a state that produced the likes of Dan Quayle . . .'" recalls Donnelly, who was criticizing a Hoosier state child custody decision as he argued a San Francisco custody case before Slabach.
"I got halfway through, and she said, 'And that's also produced the likes of Commissioner Slabach,'" he said, amused at the ironic comeback that cleanly filleted him.
It was a typically light comment by Slabach (pronounced slay-bah) in her emotionally charged courtroom, where the fate of children is often discussed in terms of dollars and cents.
Hers is the court where child and spousal support payments are set; sometimes they're increased, often decreased, but always hotly debated.
It is the only civil courtroom in San Francisco equipped with a metal detector at the door, to ensure that none of the heated arguments between family members will ever be resolved with weapons.
During a hearing last week, when a father was balking at making his payments, Slabach sounded like the school teacher she once was.
"Obviously mom needs the money, so let's get to the bottom of this," she said, doing the math necessary to ensure the correct amount would be withheld from the man's paycheck.
Dissatisfied with teaching, Slabach moved west and enrolled at Boalt Hall School of Law, graduating in 1982.
She set up a family law practice in Santa Rosa in 1983, which flourished, but again left looking for new challenges. She applied for a S.F. child support commissioner vacancy and got it in 1997.
"I love it," she said. "I get to be a neutral. I don't have to be a hired gun for a parent."
Attorneys who appear before her enjoy the experience of discussing issues with one of their kind. "It's wonderful to appear before her, because she's knows what it's like to stand in our shoes," said attorney Kevin Duffy of Marx & Duffy. "It makes our job that much easier."
San Francisco solo practitioner Edna Henley, who often represents the children before Slabach, said the commissioner has the patience and the courage to "always treat people well" despite the trying circumstances.
"People get very weird about their money and their kids," Henley said.
Last year, Slabach found herself embroiled in controversy because she granted hardship deductions in support paid by parents whose children were on public assistance, but who also were raising a new family. Her ruling reducing the payments owed by the parents prompted a reversal by the First District Court of Appeal in City and County of San Francisco v. Freeman, 71 Cal.App.4th 869, which held that state law bars such hardship deductions in child support payments.
The issue went Slabach's way later in the year when the Legislature passed AB 380, repealing the prohibition against courts granting hardship deductions.
"As of Jan. 1, I'm going to be able to give those hardship deductions to all obligors," she said.
