A judges ability to concentrate on one thing to the exclusion of others ought to be the norm on the bench. But for variety of reasons it sometimes is not the practice. There are forms to fill out. There are notes to be taken and occasionally there is just plain multi tasking: a quick e mail to a clerk, a check of the calendar to see what is on for the afternnon. And then there is Selective attention which provides a way for us to navigate through the maze of data that comes our way every second of the day.
We can:
- Tune our ears – as a mother reacting to a baby’s crying in the middle of the night,
- Focus our vision – as parents do to find your child’s face in a large crowd,
- Latch onto an idea to the exclusion of others – this is the best way to get this done.
By selectively attending we can get a number of things done.
We can also miss a lot of things, too. Take a look at the following from Christopher Chabris and Daniel J. Simons.
Focus on counting the number of passes between team members with white shirts. Bounce passes count, too: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGQmdoK_ZfY
Well, how did you do? What did you attend to and what did you disregard or minimize? What does this tell us about the wisdon of multi tasking on the bench?
blog.amjudges.org 
Perhaps multi-tasking verrus concentration is a not a necessary or approriate way to frame the challenge befoe a judge on the bench. One possible way of averting this Hobson’s choice is to first say what is the business before the court and then to say that some house keeping chores have to completed before taking up the outstanding legal issues. Isn’t that a style or method in oening meetings or proceedings in general? What litigants, attorneys, and observers are looking for is a sign that judges know what they are doing. Explicitly saying what is going to happen is a valuable way to keep everyone informed and to convince everyone that the judge knows the low down.
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Multitasking divides attention. That is neither respectful to the parties nor sensible. Lawyers and witnnesses do have important things to contribute and judges never know when or how it is goiing to arrive or what it is going to be. There are many ways to avoid dividing attention and we each can, should and will select the way that works most effectively for us. But one thing that none of us should do is to miss the point of Judge Burke’s comments. Multitasking can seldom be hidden and inevitably detracts from the perception of proceedural fairness. GTE
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