"The Robing Room: OK State Judges

Hon. Roma M. McElwee	See Rating Details
Special Judge Court
Oklahoma County	See Comments

Attorney Average Rating: 4.7 - 5 rating(s) Non-Attorney Average Rating: 1.0 - 9 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. Roma M. McElwee

Comments

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: OK1622
Rating:1.0

Comments:
She was the most rude and sarcastic and ignored the Supreme Court rulings in my case. Why they allow someone like that on the bench is beyond belief.

Litigant

Comment #: OK1569
Rating:1.0

Comments:
She called roll and she didn't hear one defendant, an older gentleman, stand and say "here" so she pronounced judgement for the plaintiff. She never even looked up from her papers.
The plaintiff corrected her and pointed out the defendant was in the court room. The judge told the defendant that he was lucky that the plaintiff was nice and corrected her or she would have just moved on. She told him she was tempted to do that anyway...
She was incredibly rude and played favorites in most of the cases that I watched.
She told everyone in the court room that we were all "unreasonable people" for not working out our own problems.

Litigant

Comment #: OK1568
Rating:1.0

Comments:
One of the cases before ours put her in a bad mood. She refused to let me speak or to look at any of the evidence that I presented. She kept making rude comments and then looking at the other people in the court room to see if they were laughing at her comments. She told me that if I had a job I wouldn't be in court. I had, and still have, a job. And that had nothing at all to do with the case.
Terrible attitude.

Other

Comment #: OK1540
Rating:1.0

Comments:
Judge McElwee was a joke. She was rude and bitterly sarcastic the entire time. She literally told a defendant that she didn't like him. She yelled at and interrupted every person in the room. It was my first time in court so I had no idea what to expect. She laughed in my face when I asked how to make the payment I owed after my case was heard. People like her should not have that much power over another person. Judge McElwee, you are not a nice person and I did not appreciate your nasty attitude. If it were up to me, I would not have you in the court house.

Litigant

Comment #: OK1536
Rating:2.0

Comments:
Why do citizens have to be treated so rudely and disrespected in her small claims court. It's overwhelming to be there in the first place. Sitting in a chair elevated above you and wearing a black robe gives her a right to dispense "justice" with sarcasm and rudeness. I listened to her call the workers in another courthouse office "all idiots." Does she thing TV cameras are rolling and we give up our time and money to just come and sit to watch a sideshow? Is there no oversight to what goes on behind the small claims court doors? Oklahoma should be ashamed that this occurs daily. Any courtroom should be a place of mutual respect and justice does not have to be served with punitive damages of rudeness and an overall lack of regard for all Oklahoma citizens from all walks of life. Judge McElwee, you are old and accustomed to your caustic brand of justice and I don't see anything changing that.

Criminal Defense Lawyer

Comment #: OK1407
Rating:Not Rated
Comments:
Observed her brusquely tell a litigant who was late to court because they were in a car crash (and could prove it with a police report), "I don't care." Didnt even look at the police report.

Judge Judy wannabe.

Litigant

Comment #: OK1406
Rating:1.0

Comments:
I agree with all others here who say that Judge McElwee is a rude, arrogant, sad excuse for a judge. Notice how highly rated she is by attorneys and how poorly she is rated by pro se litigants. That says it all.

If you're a pro se litigant looking for justice, you won't find it in her courtroom. Especially if the other side has an attorney. You're screwed. She won't listen to a word you say, hear your witnesses, or look at your evidence. Be forewarned; no matter how right you may be, this is not a judge who gives pro se litigants more than one minute to present their cases.

Judge McElwee is living proof of why Oklahoma should not allow attorneys in small claims court. It's supposed to be the PEOPLE'S court!

Other

Comment #: OK1375
Rating:1.0

Comments:
Her mind was made before I even said a word. She is very poor judge and should not be on the bench.She is very arrogant and rude and should be removed as soon as possible.

Other

Comment #: OK1358
Rating:Not Rated
Comments:
I had to go in front of this judge on an eviction, the trial went so quickly, she would not listen to anything I had to say, she would ask me a question but cut me off when I tried to give an answer, she would not look at any of my evidence and sided with the landlord and his attorney and put me out of my home when I did nothing wrong, and could actually PROVE it if she would have let me.

Litigant

Comment #: OK1263
Rating:1.0

Comments:
She was extremely rude to me, and would not listen to anything I had to say about the case.

She told me it was unreasonable to have expected the plaintiff to keep promise of not charging any fees during introductory period of a credit card offer; that I should have willingly paid hundreds and thousands of dollars more than I contractually agreed to.

Apparently credit card companies are allowed to charge whatever fees they wish, even though it violates the agreement, and the card holder is simply supposed to happily pay the fraudulent fees.

Roma M McElwee should not be a judge, and should never be referred to as "honor", because there is absolutely nothing honorable about her.

Litigant

Comment #: OK1171
Rating:Not Rated
Comments:
Went to trial with a fall down artist. Judge McElwee saw right through the person and did not award a dime. She seemed frustrated when the person tried to steer the testimony away from the core facts in an attempt to distort the truth, and always made sure to stop the rambling and get back to the question of what case law the plaintiff was referencing. After hearing all the horror stories about small claims court, Judge McElwee was a welcome change.

Other

Comment #: OK1072
Rating:1.0

Comments:
She behind by calling her dockets from that moment she was belittling to all in attendance going so far as to say " to those of you who don't understand what late means, it means the attorney is held up in another court and you will have to wait' she contains to belittle loudly all that came before her and told the court room she listens to this all day and did not want to here anything. To me she was the most unprofessional,disrespecting judge I have ever seen not only in my 3 times request to report for jury duty but also being involved in youth groups who have gone to witness the workings of a court room. We have never had the opportunity to see this. Judge in a courtroom atmosphere and if ever offered it would be denied immediately. She is a Judge and should be respected but that does not give her the right to belittle and district others .

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: OK632
Rating:1.0

Comments:
I noticed the comments below about Roma's bias because some of her family are mechanics, so I thought it relevant to mention that she will not take evidence on any matter relating to sports because (she says) she was a coach -- or her husband is a coach -- sorry I can't remember which. The issue was not about coaching, but she refused to hear any evidence that we wanted to present on the issue. She even refused to let us make an offer of proof.
It's a good thing we won that trial, or we'd have appealed.

It's awful that she is so closed minded. No coach knows all there is to know about sports and coaching, and while her family mechanics might be honest, there are way too many mechanics who aren't!

Other

Comment #: OK612
Rating:3.0

Comments:
Watched a small claims against an auto shop. The Judge refused to look at and documentation; she just wanted to hear. She mentioned several times how she wanted the cases to go quickly so everyone could go Christmas shopping. The mechanic kept car from March until October. He charged to remove spark plugs twice; wrote a receipt for repairs in January (car was brought in March and mechanic said so in court), etc. This judge dismissed case in favor of mechanic. Obvious bias. 3 attorneys had their cases transferred to another judge. Wonder why?

Criminal Defense Lawyer

Comment #: OK530
Rating:7.3

Comments:
A good no nonsense judge.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: OK201
Rating:5.0

Comments:
Be aware that her dad and brother were/are mechanics. She appears to believe mechanics can do no wrong. If you must sue a mechanic before her, God help you.