Hon. Mark Falk See Rating Details
Magistrate Judge See Comments
D.N.J.  
Average Rating:5.4 - 18 rating(s)
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Ratings
*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=Chronic`y Late,10=Always on Time)
*Evenhandedness in Civil Litigation:    (1=Demonstrates Bias,10=Entirely Evenhanded)
*Evenhandedness in Criminal Litigation:   (1=Demonstrates Bias,10=Entirely Evenhanded)
Flexibility In Scheduling   (1=Completely Inflexible,10=Very Flexible)
General Inclination Regarding Bail (1=Pro-Defense,10=Pro-Government)
General Inclination in Criminal Cases, Pre-Trial:   (1=Pro-Defense,10=Pro-Government)
Involvement in Civil Settlement Discussions:   (1=Least Involved,10=Most Involved)
  Items marked with (*) are averaged into the displayed overall rating
Comments


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What others have said about Hon. Mark Falk


Comments


Court Staff

Comment #: 32922
Rating:1.0
Comments:
Falk is the crookedest Judge in New Jersey and shouldn’t be a judge at all. He is lazy and definitely has no grasp of the cases before him. The more unethical an attorney is the more they’ll enjoy being before Falk. He’s always willing to help you sell out your clients and make a quick buck. An earlier reviewer wrote that Falk is not particularly scholarly, but that was putting it gently. It’s time for this Magistrate to get the old heave-ho and bring in someone worthy who shall uphold the integrity of the judiciary.

Send e-mail to this poster 12/18/2019 4:56:52 PM

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: 30279
Rating:Not Rated
Comments:
I disagree with some of the negative comments I have seen on Judge Falk. He is the best magistrate judge in New Jersey and a friendly and understanding person on top of it. Top notch Judge.

Send e-mail to this poster 1/25/2019 10:48:28 AM

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: 30231
Rating:Not Rated
Comments:
Not a good judge. Thinks he's the smartest guy in the room, but he really has little to no grasp of the cases. Doesn't listen to lawyers or have any clue about the state of the law. Constantly says how the Court is in a state of emergency and just pushes to settle. Makes inconsistent comments, often in the same conference, and never gives the lawyers a definite plan on how to proceed with the case. Takes seemingly hours for lunch. Never gives cases the attention they deserve. Rushes people in and out of his office. Very poor.

Send e-mail to this poster 1/24/2019 1:29:47 PM

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: 25122
Rating:Not Rated
Comments:
Judge Falk just wants cases to settle. There is an emergency in the DNJ (mostly Newark) because of a lack of district judges, so it seems his assignment is to get as many cases to settle as possible. I recently had a labor law matter with him, and he forced us to attend four settlement conferences with clients in tow, even after I moved for summary judgment. He then proceeded to inform me that the MSJ may take a year to decide, and a trial may take place in 2019 (emphasis on "may"). After we did settle Judge Falk was so thankful I became a little uncomfortable. It was as if we did him a huge favor (which may actually be the case).

Otherwise, a very affable and humorous person. You'll be annoyed that you have to be there, but won't have a bad time.

Send e-mail to this poster 1/7/2018 8:41:07 PM

Litigant

Comment #: 24468
Rating:10.0
Comments:
There is only ONE Mark Falk.

If you read all these comments, they seem to fall into two camps -- Judge Falk is great, or Judge Falk is a jerk...

Judge Falk is energetic, or he is lazy...

There is only one Judge Falk, namely, the good one, "an attorney's judge".

If Judge Falk is putting his feet on the desk towards you while you are speaking, that is just his indirect way of telling you that you are making absurd, idiotic arguments.

If you are performing as a skilled and informed attorney in presenting and acknowledging the facts of your case, he is with you in a direct way. If you are dissembling and insulting his intelligence, he will only tell you that indirectly -- feet on desk, pretending to fall asleep, whatever.

Yup, it's that simple. In my estimation, Judge Falk is extremely astute and fair. If he is giving you negative feedback, that is about you, not about him.

We had a case before him, and he called both parties down to NJ (from MA and PA) to a conference before him. He pushed really hard on me and on my attorneys, and I must surmise that he pushed hard on the opposing attorneys (no one from our side was in the room), because they folded and walked away, after I took a big riak and refused to offer any cash for dismissal.

Bottom line, Judge Falk was an honest broker.

Send e-mail to this poster 6/14/2017 11:26:29 PM

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: 23362
Rating:Not Rated
Comments:
Very good judge. Gets it.

Send e-mail to this poster 3/11/2016 4:41:39 AM

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: 12862
Rating:3.0
Comments:
In a case where my client was clearly the wrong defendant (which we had demonstrated to the court and plaintiff by way of un-controverted proofs) Judge seemed to wait for us all to finish speaking before 'tuning in' and simply saying to me "Go get some money on this case". Six months later and the plaintiff finally (though rightly) stipped us out. But left in Judge's hands we would have been paying settlement money on a case where we weren't even correctly in the case. Poorly handled.

Send e-mail to this poster 9/8/2011 10:58:05 AM

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: 10422
Rating:9.7
Comments:
Honestly, I cannot fathom that anyone has ever had a problem with this Judge. I have had the pleasure of going before him in a civil matter and I found him to be very competent, fair, knowledgeable, and very even-handed. I really wish that we had more judges like him. He has NEVER forgotten what it was like to be an attorney and be in our shoes. He is by far one of the best Judges I have ever gone before. I feel he is constantly looking for solutions and not problems. He is firmly about justice. I find it very impossible, unless you went before him on a very bad day or you were obnoxious, that he was less than gracious and legally competent in handling a person's matter. I swear, if more judges ere like him, the judicial system would be impeccable. He's awesome.

Send e-mail to this poster 6/22/2010 9:36:21 PM

Civil Litigation - Govt.

Comment #: 9619
Rating:6.2
Comments:
He is indeed charming and he is indeed lazy and, unfortunately as is becoming the rule in this District, not particularly scholarly.

I appeared before him several times on an intellectual property matter which clearly he had no experience with, but unfortunately he never seemed to have progressed in his understanding of the issues as the case moved on.

He is a pleasurable person to deal with, and I can hardly imagine how some of the comments suggesting otherwise could have been written about the same person I know.

Send e-mail to this poster 12/17/2009 10:43:45 AM

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: 5791
Rating:8.2
Comments:
A lawyer's judge. Schedules a lot of conferences and hearings. If the lawyers are serious about settling a case, he will work hard to ensure that a fair resolution is reached.

Send e-mail to this poster 2/21/2008 5:50:57 PM

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: 4745
Rating:7.7
Comments:
I recently had a good experience with Magistrate Judge Falk. He provided a fair and well-reasoned ruling.

Send e-mail to this poster 9/5/2007 10:30:10 PM

Other

Comment #: 4195
Rating:Not Rated
Comments:
Judge Falk is one of the most down to earth, nicest and hardest working judges on the bench. It's a pleasure to appear before him.

Send e-mail to this poster 6/12/2007 7:48:39 PM

Other

Comment #: 3897
Rating:8.0
Comments:
I couldn't possibly disagree more with the previous comment posted that Magistrate Falk is disrespectful or rude.

I had the pleasure of interning for Judge Falk a few years ago, and he is a man who demonstrates the highest level of both integrity and competence.

He is also highly skilled at alternative dispute resolution, preferring to help the parties reach a solution they can live with than have the lawyers run up their clients bills only to reach a potentially unfavorable result. He expects (and makes it clear to parties) that they should have the necessary authority on hand (or readily available) each time the parties are present in court. Perhaps the unhappy poster disobeyed this rule.

Send e-mail to this poster 3/27/2007 9:22:50 AM

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: 2810
Rating:4.5
Comments:
Falk is a paradox. He is unfailingly polite. Extremely flexible about scheduling matters. And yet he will not write a decision on a motion, preferring to drag the parties into court so he can dictate his decision into the record, and require the parties to draft and submit an order. He is not scholarly. He is a seat of the pants, reasonable judge.

He genuinely seems to enjoy being a judge, and is cordial to counsel. But he is chronically late, and will leave us cooling our heels for hours before a 20 minute conference.

Send e-mail to this poster 10/27/2006 10:19:33 AM

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: 2329
Rating:3.3
Comments:
On one Court appearance, he actually fell asleep during Settlement meeting with Counsel in Chambers. Later on in open Court, he showed complete disrepect by putting his feet up on the Judge's desk. Kept counsel waiting for many hours for useless settlement conferences, even though we told him case was not going to settle. Very rarely prepared for Settlement Conferences, constantly asked Counsel "What is this case all about?" Many times acted beligerently when we told him case was not going to settle.

Send e-mail to this poster 9/15/2006 10:41:04 AM

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: 1289
Rating:7.0
Comments:
Takes interest in resolving cases.

Send e-mail to this poster 6/24/2006 9:07:49 AM