At the Maryland Conference of Bar Presidents hosted by the MSBA this past weekend, I was sitting at a conference table discussing something bar related with a group of attorneys, including a couple members of the bench.

When I started this thing that I call “my legal career,” I took the position that, no matter what you ever wanted to call a jurist, the only appropriate names include Judge or Your Honor. During the course of this meeting and during the course of the Conference, several participants in conversation with or about judges would identify them by their first name. That got me thinking: When is it appropriate to call a Judge by their first name?

I asked around during the conference to see if there exists a general consensus. Much like a flow chart, the answer to this very question depends on several variables. If you are married to the jurist, you can call him or her by their first name. If you were friends with the judge before that person was elevated to the bench, then using their first name in personal conversation is appropriate, but not in social settings where others may overhear. Another colleague of mine married the daughter of a sitting judge. Even at casual family dinners with the family, he refers to his father-in-law as “Judge.”

For young lawyers, however, the answer is always the same: never. You probably did not know the Judge before he or she was appointed to the bench (except in situations where they are a family friend). You probably are not married to a judge (if you are, this is the lone exception for young lawyers). Most judges will not call you out for referring to them by their first name, probably a result of the judicial temperament that they have developed over the years. But its tacky…. and name dropping ….. and disrespectful.

Even if you clerked for the Judge or the Judge herself has said “call me Jane,” there is never a really appropriate time for a young lawyer to call a member of the bench by her first name. Maybe, one day, some of my friends or colleagues will become judges and I will feel comfortable calling them by their first name, but until then, it will always be “Your Honor” to me.

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