"The Robing Room: CA State Judges

Hon. Lisa A. Novak	See Rating Details
Judge Superior Court
San Mateo County	See Comments

Attorney Average Rating: 4.0 - 7 rating(s) Non-Attorney Average Rating: 4.0 - 3 rating(s)	Please send me alerts on this judge E-mail Address:

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Only items marked with (*) are averaged into the displayed overall rating.

General Rating Criteria

* Temperament		(1=Awful,10=Excellent)
* Scholarship		(1=Awful,10=Excellent)
* Industriousness		(1=Not at all industrious,10=Highly industrious)
* Ability to Handle Complex Litigation		(1=Awful,10=Excellent)
* Punctuality		(1=Chronically Late,10=Always on Time)
* General Ability to Handle Pre-Trial Matters		(1=Not all Able, 10=Extremely Able)
* General Ability as a Trial Judge		(1=Not all Able, 10=Extremely Able)
Flexibility In Scheduling		(1=Completely Inflexible,10=Very Flexible)

Criminal Rating Criteria (if applicable)

* Evenhandedness in Criminal Litigation		(1=Demonstrates Bias,10=Entirely Evenhanded)
General Inclination Regarding Bail		(1=Pro-Defense,10=Pro-Government)
Involvement in Plea Discussions		(1=Not at all Involved, 10=Very Involved)
General Inclination in Criminal Cases Pretrial Stage		(1=Pro-prosecution,10=Pro-defense)
General Inclination in Criminal Cases Trial Stage		(1=Pro-prosecution,10=Pro-defense)
General Inclination in Criminal Cases Sentencing Stage		(1=Pro-prosecution,10=Pro-defense)

Civil Rating Criteria (if applicable)

* Evenhandedness in Civil Litigation		(1=Not at all Evenhanded,10=Entirely Evenhanded)
Involvement in Settlement Discussions		(1=Not at all Involved,10=Very Involved)
General Inclination		(1=Pro-defendant, 10=Pro-plaintiff)

Comments

What others have said about Hon. Lisa A. Novak

Comments

Other

Comment #: CA3756
Rating:1.0

Comments:
14 years for evading a cop asking for your ID? Judge Novak says yes. This is the problem with our state. A life destroyed for something so trivial.

Other

Comment #: CA3017
Rating:1.0

Comments:
Miss Novak is a pleasant light hearted judge but lacks expertise and professionalism. Her demeanor is "sorority girl like" with an ego to match. She rules arbitrarily, but it does seem to be in accordance to her ego being fed even when it's being done so overtly. Her arrogance and/or laziness and/or biases effects her comprehension (Her rulings to the contrary of case laws). I understand Novak's background is not Labor Law and her ignorance showed.

Criminal Defense Lawyer

Comment #: CA2869
Rating:1.0

Comments:
Obviously Novak has been writing some of her own reviews. One of the three worst judges in the County. Thinks she is smarter than everyone and has to have the last word on everything. Thinks she is "funny"...and she's not

Other

Comment #: CA2502
Rating:10.0

Comments:
I just served on a jury in Judge Novak's court and found her delightful, fair, and adherent to the law. Where appropriate she injected humor that made the process much less tedious and had me being very diligent during the course of the trial.

Criminal Defense Lawyer

Comment #: CA1842
Rating:1.0

Comments:
Novak gets most if not all writ petitions in San Mateo County. I have not filed many--maybe 5 or so. However, this woman will sit on these petitions for over a year if you let her. She just fails to do anything until you make a big deal out of it.

In regard to evenhandedness. I had a motion for return of over $10,000 in property wrongfully taken and retained by police for over 5 years granted by another judge; that judge told the DA and I to work out the order. The DA just refused to return calls and emails; got to point where had to file another property return motion because DA would not comply with judges' order. Second round went to Novak. When I explained my concerns based on DA's prior conduct, she told me to "Stop Whinning." Yes your honor, thank you for granting my motion, for the second time. Should I give the DA a backrub too?

Prosecutor

Comment #: CA1788
Rating:1.4

Comments:
Horrible, miserable, moody, very unhappy person. She's an equal opportunity hater. She hates the prosecution as much as the defense, although she has a clear prosecutorial bias towards holding criminals accountable, which is not necessarily a bad thing. She's just plain miserable, condescending and a horrible person to deal with.

Criminal Defense Lawyer

Comment #: CA1747
Rating:1.3

Comments:
Whoever wrote the prior comments is either related to Novak or had something happen to them that no one else has seen in the 5 years Novak has been a judge.

It's not that Novak doesn't suffer fools well, she doesn't suffer anyone well. Flippant, arrogant, lazy, "homer", uh...did I mention arrogant.

In front of his client and other people, Novak accused one of the best defense attorneys in the Bay Area that he had "abandoned" his client, when she had no idea of the facts invovled and was 100% wrong in her analysis.

Novak jacks up offers on trial days dependent upon her "mood". Unless you move in time-not-waived status, you won't get a trial out for over a year.

Worst judge I've seen in this County since started practicing in 1977.

Criminal Defense Lawyer

Comment #: CA251
Rating:9.9

Comments:
Former prosecutor who demands her ex-colleagues to be diligent and on top of their cases - she also demands that from the defense. Not afraid to dismiss if she sees a violation of the law. I have done a trial in front of her where she granted an 1118 - based on solid facts and law but one that many others may have denied. She does the one thing that you always want in a judge - she follows the law!

Criminal Defense Lawyer

Comment #: CA116
Rating:9.8

Comments:
I recently had a DV dismissal under Judge Lisa Novak, San Mateo County.

Without batting an eye she followed Crawford vs.. Washington and its progeny. She threw the case out because the DA showed lack of due diligence to serve the CW [People vs.Cogswell]

A few weeks earlier, I granted one continuance to the DA. At the morning of trial, Novak refused to give the DA another continuance because "defense is ready to go". DA dismissed.

I found Novak courteous and quite pleasant in chambers. A colleague later told me that Novak follows the law and "does not suffer fools lightly". That's cool.

In Sum: Republican Judge appointed by Arnold throws my DV case out based upon a decision by Scalia. If I lost, the guy would have been deported. I still feel quite good about that morning.