Eighteenth Judicial District - District Court Judge
Honorable Richard B. Caschette
Retention Year: 2010
Recommendation: Retain
Reports:
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The Eighteenth Judicial District Commission on Judicial Performance unanimously recommends that Judge Richard B. Caschette BE RETAINED.
Judge Caschette earned a bachelor’s degree from Fordham University in 1976 and graduated with a law degree from Syracuse University in 1979. He has practiced in several private law firms, dealing with issues that included professional malpractice, products liability, business litigation and white collar crime. He served in the Denver District Attorney’s Office for four-and-one-half years and as First Assistant United States Attorney for the District of Colorado, where he supervised all federal criminal prosecutions and civil litigation. Judge Caschette also represents the judiciary well in the community. He has spoken at numerous domestic relations and civil law conferences, and has judged a high school moot court competition. He is an active member of the Colorado Bar Association Litigation Council and the American Board of Trial Advocates, and has been a guest lecturer at the University of Colorado and University of Denver law schools.
Judge Caschette, who was appointed Douglas County Court Judge in July of 2008, hears domestic relations and civil cases. As he had no prior experience in the law and practice of domestic relations, he has spent considerable time reading the statutes and networking with colleagues about domestic relations cases.
Commission members have reviewed attorney and non-attorney surveys, made personal courtroom observations, and heard from citizens and a wide range of people involved in Judge Caschette’s court. The Commission is impressed with his abilities after a relatively short time on the bench. Despite the often emotional nature of the cases that Judge Caschette hears, both attorneys and non-attorneys praise his sense of fairness and his reasonable and fair courtroom demeanor and rulings. He is patient with people who appear in court without representation by a lawyer, carefully explaining legal processes to them. He believes in showing respect to everyone, and attempts to write his decisions in a manner that laypersons can understand. He manages his docket well, and has almost no cases open longer than suggested performance benchmarks.
Of all attorneys surveyed about retention, 87% recommended to retain, 9% not to retain, and 5% expressed no opinion. Excluding those who had no opinion, 90% recommended to retain and 10% not to retain. Of all non-attorneys surveyed, 76% recommended to retain, 21% not to retain, and 4% expressed no opinion. Excluding those who had no opinion, 78% recommended to retain and 22% not to retain. (These percentages may not total 100% due to rounding.)