Knox Gets High Marks : Judicial Candidates Rated in Lawyer Poll

Lawyers surveyed by the Orange County Bar Assn. have high regard for a Superior Court judge seeking reelection to the bench but give mixed reviews to a Municipal Court judge attempting to keep the post he was appointed to two years ago, according to a poll released Monday.

Superior Court Judge Robert A. Knox was overwhelmingly rated as “highly qualified” or “qualified” by lawyers responding to the poll. But North Municipal Judge Sidney Maleck scored below his opponent, attorney Michael A. Leversen.

In the other contested judicial race--for West Municipal Court--lawyers responding gave Deputy Dist. Atty. Brett G. London a somewhat more favorable review than his opponent, attorney Gerald L. Klein.

The poll was conducted as a service for voters and does not represent an official endorsement by the bar association, said attorney Mario W. Mainero Jr., who helped assemble the survey.

Only lawyers who have had recent experience with the candidates were asked to evaluate them, Mainero said.

Additionally, attorneys rating one candidate in a race did not necessarily rate his opponent. Thus, Mainero said, the results represent an independent evaluation of the candidate rather than a comparison of one against another.

In the hotly contested race for North Municipal Court, 70 attorneys rated challenger Leversen as “highly qualified,” while 53 rated him as “qualified” and 14 said “not qualified.”

In contrast, Maleck was rated highly qualified by 40, qualified by 45 and not qualified by 32.

In most categories of evaluation, a higher proportion of attorneys approved of Leversen than Maleck. Sixty-one rated Leversen’s “judgment and experience” to be excellent; only 10 said it was below average.

Maleck received excellent ratings in that category from 32 lawyers but was cited as below average by 31.

In the race for West Municipal Court, both Klein and London seemed to enjoy the confidence of lawyers answering the survey.

Klein was termed highly qualified by 82, qualified by 71 and not qualified by 20.

Challenger Ranks Low

London received highly qualified ratings from 88, qualified from 42 and not qualified from 10.

The one Superior Court judge being challenged, Knox, received a far better evaluation from responding attorneys than did his opponent.

Knox was rated highly qualified by 331, qualified by 123 and not qualified by 5.

Challenger James Edward Wilkoski received highly qualified ratings from 2, qualified from 7 and not qualified from 52.

In the judgment and experience category, 300 gave Knox an excellent rating, while Wilkoski received that evaluation from 2.

Six attorneys rated Knox below average in that category, in contrast to 49 who found Wilkoski to be below average.