"The Robing Room: MD State Judges

Hon. Ruth A. Jakubowski	See Rating Details
Associate Circuit Judge Circuit Court
Baltimore County County 3rd Circuit	See Comments

Attorney Average Rating: 4.3 - 10 rating(s) Non-Attorney Average Rating: 2.0 - 2 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

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What others have said about Hon. Ruth A. Jakubowski

Comments

Criminal Defense Lawyer

Comment #: MD9403
Rating:9.3

Comments:
I'm surprised at so many of these comments. This woman saved me. My ex husband is in prison for the remainder of his life for s.a. of minors and he tried to hard, while in a jumpsuit and cuffs, to throw me under the bus as a bad mother who should give him 50/50 custody. Having him in our lives in any way would have been detrimental to my children and she saw that. She gave me full custody and told him he could contact the kids if he wrote to me first. He's never written. She knew he wouldn't. SO did I. Without her, I don't know where we'd be.

Litigant

Comment #: MD9386
Rating:3.0

Comments:
In my experience, which involves a complex child custody matter, Jakubowski proved that she does not take her responsibility seriously. At my settlement conference, her carelessness was on full display, evidenced by the comments she made, which demonstrated clearly that she did not read the critical documents that were provided to her, namely psychiatric evaluations of both parents that were completed by the court psychiatrist. The mother's report highlighted that the psychiatrist diagnosed her with a current drug use disorder and included multiple paragraphs detailing her severely disordered personality profile, even pointing out that she might not be a good role model for children. The father's report (mine) was relatively benign and balanced. Jakubowski, from the get-go, admonished me, suggesting the mother ought to request weekly drug tests for me, and warning me that I'd better do X, Y, and Z if I wished to build a relationship with my children, with whom I already had a strong, healthy relationship. My jaw literally dropped as I could not believe the nonsense coming out of her mouth. I would not want this person to come within a country mile of my children ever again. I would venture to say she is heavily biased against fathers. Facts do not matter to her.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: MD9174
Rating:1.0

Comments:
She is awful! At a certain age, these folks should have to be out of a job. She is not a judge. She is arrogant! Just because you know you are able to make decisions on a person's life that will mess the entire family up for the rest of their lives-Does not mean you should. She tried to settle at a settlement conference even though the parties were nowhere near settlement. She DOES NOT LISTEN AND THINKS HER JUDGEMENT IS LAW BASED it is not. Please stop doing this JOB JUDGE! YOU ARE HURTING FAMILIES NOT HELPING!!

Other

Comment #: MD8401
Rating:1.0

Comments:
There is nothing honorable about Ruth Jakubowski. She was assigned to our "high conflict" case, in 2006/2007. Instead of looking at the factual documents that were presented in this custody case, she focused on the skin color of the parents, and the school the child attended. (he was enrolled at a private school) She wanted to ignore the material evidence that was presented of child abuse, because of skin color. When an emergency motion was filed in January of 2015, with affidavits from family, CPS reports, calling out abuse, the "judge on call" continued to pass the file on. They were uncomfortable with the language of abuse and certainly sex abuse, because it pertained to father and son. And then it was pushed on Ruth, because she was assigned to us years ago. Today my son is able to write on paper he was abused. Today my son, struggles with living though that. Today my son, is anxious and distrusting. Today, I will make a difference.

Criminal Defense Lawyer

Comment #: MD3077
Rating:3.7

Comments:
It is perplexing how someone as intellectually gifted as her past practice would indicate has no interest in researching the issues before the court. Very good at getting parties to resolve through settlement, but if that fails, whatever her heart dictates is the judicial decision.

Criminal Defense Lawyer

Comment #: MD2690
Rating:1.8

Comments:
Totally biased towards defendants. She does not know law and does not explain why she comes to the conclusions she come to. She does not have the education to be a judge and should not be on the bench. She is too much apart of the good old boys network.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: MD2163
Rating:9.8

Comments:
I don't know where the prior posters were, but they could not have been in Judge Jakubowski's courtroom. She is one of the best judges on the bench. Whenever we get her as a judge, both sides are ecstatic because they know that she will listen, consider, try to be proactive in resolving the matter, and will always be fair.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: MD1995
Rating:2.1

Comments:
She handled non-jury, post trial matters relating to breach of contract. She did not know the law and acted accordingly. I was disappointed in her performance. She did not give the case the attention it deserved.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: MD1804
Rating:1.9

Comments:
She is not a good old boy, which is a nice change of pace. Regrettably, it is clear that she wishes she was a good old boy, and acts just like such a crony. Very short-sighted, borderline cynical. Not a scholar by any means, and lazy. Very much unimpressed.

Criminal Defense Lawyer

Comment #: MD979
Rating:9.3

Comments:
I disagree wholeheartedly with the previous opinion that Judge Jakubowski is arrogant. I have appeared in front of her dozens of times for pleas and tried several court and jury trials in her court. I have always found her to be pleasant, respectful to the parties and attorneys and very thoughtful on the law. She never interferes when the State and defense have reached an agreement and although she never practiced criminal law, she gets the sentence right far more often than not. In my opinion she is an excellent judge whom I am always happy to draw.

Criminal Defense Lawyer

Comment #: MD209
Rating:3.0

Comments:
She is arrogant and does not have more than a superficial impression of the factors that should be considered at sentencing.