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“Honorable Earl Maas, III,” by Erin Guzman & Jeffrey Lacy Published in North County Lawyer, Vol. 25, No. 5, May 2008 On April 9, 2005, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger appointed Earl H. Maas III to sit on the judicial bench for the San Diego County Superior Court. Judge Maas began his career as an attorney in 1988 after graduating from USD School of Law. He practiced for approximately 17 years, specializing in legal malpractice defense during the second half of his career as an attorney. Although Judge Maas came from a family with legal background (his father, Earl H. Maas, Jr. was a judge with San Diego Superior Court), he initially did not have aspirations to enter the legal field. His dreams were to be a professional baseball player as a catcher. However, after injuring his knee in a surfing accident, he knew he would not be able to play in the major leagues. By his junior year in college at SDSU, Judge Maas decided he wanted to be an entertainment lawyer representing professional athletes and graduated with a major in speech communications and a minor in psychology. Once he graduated from USD School of Law, he knew he wanted to be a trial lawyer rather than an entertainment lawyer. Judge Maas did not initially have any plans to become a judge because he loved being an attorney and litigating cases before a jury. However, shortly after Arnold Schwarzenegger was elected governor, then-attorney Maas saw an opportunity for a judicial seat based on his civil law experience and thought it would be healthy to sit on the other side of the bench to help make a difference to the community. After his appointment, Judge Maas knew his initial assignment would be in the family law department. At first, he was hesitant about the assignment knowing that it had a reputation of having heavy caseloads and being emotionally taxing. However, now that he has been in his assignment for over three years, he is pleased in his position. He believes he now has a better understanding of family law which allows him to be even more effective in his job. Although the assignment is only three years long, he has committed to at least another year in his assignment. Judge Maas’ main goal on the bench is to be a part of the solution. He does not want to focus on how the parties got to his courtroom, but rather how they will leave it by fixing the problems before them and maintaining focus on finding a solution. Maintaining such focus also helps reduce the emotional taxation of family law cases. Also, he realizes that there are no “perfect decisions,” helping reduce the stress of his position. If one solution does not work out, he’ll then work with the litigants to find one that will. Judge Maas believes strongly in his independent obligation to protect the best interests of children in all matters before him. He says he appreciates the camaraderie and cooperation he sees between family law attorneys, and finds it to be something unique to family law. He believes that this cooperative attitude helps in reaching an amicable resolution to the problems before them which is most often in the best interests of the children involved. A very important concept to Judge Maas is that every litigant should feel that their case is important and that they were able to be heard by the court. A lot of litigants need to express their frustration and perspective of the case before they can focus on resolution and adhering to the court’s orders. It is very important to Judge Maas that attorneys appearing before him have met and conferred prior to the hearing rather than the attorneys speaking five minutes before the courtroom opens. He believes most issues that come before him could have been resolved simply by the attorneys or litigants talking to each other. Do not expect to meet and confer on a case after court is in session. Discussions during a court session are strictly prohibited in Judge Maas’ courtroom. Not only should attorneys have already attempted to resolve the case before the court date, but, because of the design of Judge Maas’ courtroom, he and his court reporter cannot hear the litigants if anyone is conferencing or coming and going. So, please, be respectful of this rule. Judge Maas believes the most common mistake he sees attorneys commit in his courtroom is not recognizing and addressing conflicts of interest. This is especially complicated in the family law arena because the matters can last for over 10 years. An attorney may have specially appeared for someone on a case, and then five years down the road that same attorney substitutes in on the case without ever remembering the special appearance they made. This results in a failure to disclose the appearance to their new client which may be a direct conflict of interest because when an attorney specially appears for another attorney, the duty to their client also attaches. Judge Maas further recommends not specially appearing for an opposing counsel on a specific matter when you are appearing for a stipulated continuance. Merely inform the court that opposing counsel has stipulated; there is no need for specially appearing on their behalf. Judge Maas was an attorney with Maas, Miyamoto and Bernstein from 2001 to 2005. Prior to that, he was an attorney and a shareholder with Chapin, Shea, McNitt and Carter. He was also a shareholder in the law firm Thompson, Alessio and Maas. He was an adjunct professor at Thomas Jefferson School of Law teaching professional responsibility, and hopes to re-enter the classroom in the future if the opportunity arises. When asked what he misses the most from being an attorney, Judge Maas stated he missed litigating jury trials. He litigated almost 50 of them before his appointment and said it is where he felt the most at home. He does not, however, miss the business aspect of practicing law, and is now free to focus on the law and of helping people.
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