rent-a-judge

plural rent-a-judges

1. derogatoryuncountablelawA system of arbitration in a private court, with a hired judge acting as a arbitrator.

   Rent-a-judge [has been denounced] as a subtle and sophisticated form of "legal apartheid."

   1983, Criminal Justice: Opposing Viewpoints

   3 more examples

   Perhaps most importantly, Koford did not think that rent-a-judge is available only to the wealthy.

   1981, California Lawyer

   Witnesses were apt to be sworn in private trials and virtually always in rent-a-judge trials, but rarely in private mediation hearings.

   1993, Janice A. Roehl, Private Judging: A Study of Its Volume, Nature, and Impact on State Courts: Final Report

   The rent-a-judge system creates a buyer's market that the litigants control, and the judges must tailor their reputations and their decision-making to attract customers.

   2006, Edward J. Brunet, Charles B. Craver, Ellen E. Deason, Alternative Dispute Resolution: The Advocate's Perspective: Cases and Materials, LexisNexis/Matthew Bender

2. countablederogatorylawA judge in such a private court.

   Unlike their public court counterparts, rent-a-judges do not pass through the screening process of public election or governmental appointment.

   2005 October 20, Simon Roberts, Michael Palmer, Dispute Processes: ADR and the Primary Forms of Decision-Making, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 344