PERHAPS it was inevitable that Judge Michael B. Dufficy would be called a courthouse crony.

Dufficy was born into the tight-knit legal community that has always run Marin County's courts. His great-grandfather was justice of the peace in San Rafael in the late 19th century; his father was Marin's chief deputy district attorney.

Before he ever donned a black judge's robe, Dufficy spent 26 years doing daily battle as a prosecutor and a defense attorney in Marin. He scored his biggest triumph by winning an acquittal for one of six defendants charged in a bloody San Quentin escape attempt in what remains one of the most celebrated trials in county history.

As he enters his second decade on the bench, however, the 62-year-old judge faces allegations he plays favorites in court. Critics say he rules in favor of a select few friends - attorneys who were once his colleagues - whose interests he has placed before families and children who stand before him in court.

The persistent claims of cronyism touch on the very essence of the man, for decades an active socialite who learned the benefits of keeping the right company early on by gaining his judicial appointment after twice chairing a governor's local campaign.

Recent months have seen a steady stream of revelations that raise questions about Dufficy's objectivity as a judge, and fuel the fires of those who wonder if justice - or the right representation - wins the day at the San Rafael courthouse.

"This isn't about corruption,'' said San Rafael attorney Paul Camera, a Stanford classmate of Dufficy's who has become one of the judge's fiercest critics. "It's about cronyism. Cronyism in its worst possible form.''

To Dufficy, the criticism has hit hard. In May he stepped away from his favorite assignment as Marin's chief family law judge - a position he held for seven years - citing a stress-related heart condition that his doctor linked to the controversy that has rattled his reputation.

He now hears civil cases, and veers from solemn acknowledgement that he wasn't careful enough about appearances to outright anger that he has been smeared.

"Yes, I maintained social relationships with lawyers,'' he said recently during a recess in his courtroom. "In retrospect, I should have been more careful.'' Moments later, his assessment was more pointed: "I sleep well. I know damn well I haven't done anything wrong or unethical – and those people who say otherwise can go to hell.''

Focus on family courts

The schism surrounds the operation of Marin's family law courts, where heart-rending disagreements involving divorce and child custody disputes take center stage every weekday.

Dufficy's supporters say he was caught in a wave of revolt that grips family law courts nationwide.

C. Clay Greene, a longtime family law attorney in Marin, said public resentments about perceived wrongs in divorce courts have boiled over, and that Dufficy happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

"What is happening in Marin is happening all over the country. There has been a concerted effort to gather opposition to judges hearing these cases,'' Greene said. "In my opinion, this would have happened to anyone who happened to be the family law judge at the time.''

Dufficy's critics, however, say the tide of resistance rising against him has everything to do with the man, and his decisions inside and outside the courtroom.

"He's a nice guy,'' said Larkspur attorney Kathryn Ballentine Shepherd, a regular in Marin's family law courts for the past two decades. "But he set up a system that was all wrong.''

Criticism builds

For Dufficy, there were few public signs of trouble as the year 2000 dawned. He was drawing praise for launching a new juvenile drug court that emphasized treatment over punishment for young people caught in the throes of substance abuse. In January, he announced happily that he was taking another two-year stint running the family law division.

Then came a storm of opposition that rattled the Marin legal community in late February, when an investigator hired by a dozen disenchanted citizens went public with a report asserting that Dufficy showed favoritism toward a hometown coterie of attorneys and court-appointed experts, and maintained conflicts of interest that tainted his rulings.

Investigator Karen Winner suggested the FBI was investigating possible criminal violations, a claim rekindled repeatedly by citizens who say they've been interviewed by federal agents with an eye on Dufficy's conduct. The FBI will not confirm or deny the reports.

Dufficy supporters dubbed Winner's report a hit piece. Seven family law attorneys published a counterattack backing the judge.

Buoyed by the Winner report, another group of critics launched a recall drive against Dufficy and three other judges and the district attorney.

And some family law court fixtures began turning against Dufficy.

Shepherd, the Larkspur divorce attorney, said she once considered Dufficy a close friend. But the organized resistance to Dufficy caused her to question the close social quarters she and other attorneys kept with the judge.

"All of a sudden it just dawned on me,'' she said. "It looked terrible.''

Shepherd said she had long benefited from being an insider in Dufficy's court, and a member of an A-team of local matrimonial lawyers known as the FLEAS, or Family Law Elite Attorneys Society.

She recalled festive weekends spent at Dufficy's ranch in Calaveras County, schmoozing with the judge and other regulars in the family law court. She remembered dinners with Dufficy and her colleagues, and the shop talk she felt was better left in the courtroom.

"I'm not saying there were corrupt things going on,'' she said. "But I could see why there was this perception of inappropriate conduct. And the only way our system of justice can work is if people feel it is fair and fairly administered.''

Camera, Dufficy's former colleague, said the bonds Dufficy developed with certain attorneys grew so tight that he knew there were some cases in which his clients didn't have a chance.

"Against some attorneys in there, you didn't have a prayer,'' Camera said.

Dufficy defenders

Greene said any local lawyer worth a retainer is going to become familiar with a judge's predispositions. They also are going to show over time that when they tell a judge something, they are being truthful and can be trusted.

"If I have a good reputation and know the judges, they will believe me when I say something and I won't necessarily have to prove it,'' he said. "But it's not like they're up there saying, "hmm, Clay gave me $100 for my last campaign so I'll rule for him. If that were the case, I wouldn't have lost that case two months ago that I thought I should have won. The person who won, by the way, was represented by an out-of-town lawyer.''

Richard Barry, a San Rafael family law attorney who has been practicing in Marin for 35 years, said close relationships that for years were never questioned are being used to batter Dufficy's reputation.

Barry said he co-founded the FLEAS about a decade ago with an eye on helping local attorneys who did daily battle in court "to learn how to be civil to each other.''

"We would get together about 10 times a year to talk about issues in the area of family law,'' Barry said. "It's not like we were a cross-pollinated social organization. The idea was that if you could sit down together for dinner every once in a while, it was harder to be mean to each other in court.''

The group called itself "elite'' as a joke, Barry said, admitting that it's not so funny in the current court climate. "Given all that is happening now, it looks terrible,'' he said. "What can I say?''

The group allowed only five women and five men, and only one attorney per law firm. Barry says this setup meant several of the county's top family law attorneys - including current Marin judge Verna Adams, repeatedly mentioned by critics as the most favored lawyer in Dufficy's court - were precluded from joining the FLEAS.

Barry said Dufficy and Court Commissioner Sylvia Shapiro, another longtime family law jurist who received some of Winner's wrath, were original FLEAS members, but withdrew from the organization when they took the bench.

"In December each year we would have a holiday meeting and invite the judges,'' Barry said. "It was strictly a social event. If it was wrong to socialize once a year with the judges, then heaven help us.''

Dufficy history

If he had grown too comfortable in the county courthouse where family law cases are heard, perhaps history played a helping hand: Dufficys have been at the vanguard of Marin's legal circles for more than a century.

In the 1880s, when San Rafael was but a dusty stop along the Northwestern Pacific Railroad, Dufficy's great-grandfather, Michael C. Dufficy, stood in the top echelon of local attorneys, serving for a time as committing magistrate for Marin County. The elder Dufficy was nominated for Marin County Superior Court judge in 1896, but turned down the post in favor of maintaining his legal practice.

The current judge's father, Ellis Dufficy, also was a respected local attorney who served as Marin's chief deputy district attorney for four years in the late 1940s.

Michael B. Dufficy was born and raised in Ross and attended Sir Francis Drake High School. After graduating from Stanford University and Hastings College of Law, he followed in his father's footsteps by joining the Marin District Attorney's Office as a deputy prosecutor in 1964. Two years later, he left the office to go into private practice, earning certificates from the state bar as a specialist in criminal defense and family law.

In 1976, Dufficy had his greatest legal triumph by winning acquittal for Fleeta Drumgo, one of the San Quentin Six murder defendants charged in a bloody prison escape attempt in which three guards and three inmates died.

By 1982, he was waging a fierce campaign for Municipal Court judge, saying his experience as a prosecutor and defense attorney better qualified him for the bench than his opponent, career prosecutor Ernest Zunino. Zunino won, despite being outspent in the campaign by Dufficy.

The scenario was almost identical six years later, when Dufficy made a second unsuccessful attempt for the bench. This time, he was swamped at the polls by Judge William Stephens, even though Dufficy had brought home endorsements from many courthouse heavyweights and outspent his opponent by more than 60 percent.

Governor's appointee

Turned back at the ballot box, Dufficy found another way to a judgeship: He was appointed to the Marin Municipal Court in 1990 by then-Gov. George Deukmejian. The appointment occurred after Dufficy chaired Deukmejian's local campaigns in 1982 and 1986.

Dufficy has yet to be challenged at the polls. Since his appointment to the bench, he has come up for election twice and faced no opposition. He won a second six-year term in 1998 without having to appear on the ballot because nobody challenged him.

Dufficy's appointment to the bench apparently did little to stifle the judge's desire to have a good time with his friends. For years, local attorneys have convened at the judge's spacious ranch in Calaveras County for an annual Memorial Day weekend bash.

"It could get pretty wild up there,'' said Shepherd, a Memorial Day regular at the ranch. "For years it was all drinking and outlandish behavior, though it has calmed down in recent years.''

Burned in Shepherd's memory is the weekend after his judicial appointment, when Dufficy "passed out T-shirts that said 'Good Ol' Boy,' and had two guys scratching each other's backs,'' Shepherd said. "That shirt is loaded with symbolism.''

Attorney critiques

Late last year, lawyers within the county bar association took part in the largest-ever evaluation of local judges. Several contributed anonymous comments that were not flattering.

One attorney wrote of Dufficy: "It is common knowledge that he favors certain attorneys.'' Another wrote: "The term 'good-old boy' comes to mind." Yet another submitted: "If not on his party list - you have no chance.''

On grids evaluating each Marin judge's performance, however, Dufficy appears to have finished middle of the pack. He scored higher than several colleagues when attorneys were asked if he treats all parties, attorneys and law firms fairly and equally.

Dufficy has hardly helped his own cause.

In April, he wrote a letter to board members of the Marin County Bar Association addressing the Winner report. The letter was typed on court stationery, and some attorneys felt that Dufficy made inappropriate use of court resources to defend himself.

Dufficy said the letter merely thanked the association for backing him in trying times, and was written at home on his own time.

"It was absolutely not a play for support,'' he said.

In May, two partners in the Corte Madera law firm of Diamond, Bennington and Simborg issued a letter to other lawyers seeking $1,000 contributions to help Dufficy fight the recall campaign.

The letter promised potential donors that all contributions would be kept confidential, in what would have been a violation of state campaign finance laws. A lawyer in the firm, Peggy Bennington, later admitted to a lack of understanding of those laws, and the names of donors were provided to county elections officials.

Possible conflicts cited

One point of criticism that drew pause around the courthouse involved revelations that Dufficy's wife, Penelope, routinely worked as a freelance legal secretary for attorneys who appeared in his court.

Dufficy said he had received two opinions from the California Judges' Association that his wife's work posed no ethical problems. Critics say the association is a professional organization with no authority over judges. They also note that the state's Code of Civil Procedure says a judge has a financial interest in a case if his spouse is employed by attorneys appearing in a case.

Records filed with the county show that Penelope Dufficy was employed by several local law firms - including Diamond, Bennington and Simborg, and the firm run by Judge Adams - at the time their attorneys appeared regularly before Dufficy in court.

Barry said Dufficy might have overlooked the appearance his wife's work might create, but added: "I have never felt it affected his decisions.'' Barry cites a 1998 court case in which Penelope Dufficy prepared papers for him in a heated divorce case that went before her husband. He said he sought help from the judge's wife - who signs her maiden name, "Thorp,'' to her official work - only after receiving consent from the opposing attorney.

The issue was cut and dry, win or lose, and Barry presented his case to Judge Dufficy in written pleadings neatly prepared by the judge's wife.

"I lost,'' Barry said."And I am absolutely, totally confident that Penny made up those papers, went home and uttered not one word about the case to her husband.''

Even if Penelope Dufficy's work had no bearing on the cases in court, critics assert her ties to lawyers appearing before her husband leave an improper appearance.

"If you're involved in a difficult, emotionally draining case, and later on you found out that the judge's wife worked for the opposing attorney, you're going to think it affected the outcome,'' Shepherd said.

Shepherd said she once leased a space in her office to a mediator for whom Dufficy's wife worked. In March 1999, she said she heard Penelope Dufficy tell her own secretary: "I hope Kathryn will not be too disappointed by the outcome of this case.'' Said Shepherd: "The case was still pending. And how would she know about the outcome if she hadn't discussed it with Mike and he had pre-judged the case?''

Judge Dufficy said his wife never spoke to him about the cases on which she worked. "We didn't go there,'' he said. "It was like a Chinese wall in our house.''

Shepherd eventually filed papers seeking to disqualify Dufficy, claiming the judge was biased against her client. The matter was sent to another judge in May when Dufficy stepped out of family court.

Penelope Dufficy's work with many of Marin's largest and most prestigious law firms is outlined in financial disclosure statements the judge files yearly in accordance with state law.

For several years, until 1998, Dufficy also was a part owner of the Island Club, a duck-hunting club in Solano County. He said none of the other investors were attorneys in Marin.

He did say he enjoyed duck hunting with his longtime friend, San Rafael attorney Richard Riede. Riede was not an owner of the club, but for a time he performed legal work for the club. In 1998, Riede signed papers recorded with the Secretary of State's office in Sacramento when Dufficy sold his financial interest in the club. He also represented the Dufficys when they sold a piece of property in San Rafael.

Riede also appeared in Dufficy's courtroom and on occasion was appointed to probate cases. Dufficy said those appointments always were made by a third party, called an independent fiduciary, who is appointed to hold estates in trust until the conclusion of court contests.

"I don't recall that I ever appointed Rick Riede to a case,'' Dufficy said.

Neither Reide nor Penelope Dufficy returned phone calls seeking comment.

Shepherd said questions about Dufficy that have emerged in recent months have caused her to re-evaluate every case she brought before him, his every ruling, his every utterance.

"I've even found myself wondering, was I really a good lawyer, or just a pal?'' she said.

Shepherd's criticism of the judge prompted Dufficy's son, Kevin, to publicly call her a "bitch," among other invectives. Shepherd has filed a police report alleging he also threatened her and her husband, an allegation Kevin Dufficy denies.

Judge Dufficy said he believes he's figured out his one critical mistake as chief family law judge.

"I stayed on the assignment too long,'' he said. "A lot of people get upset with the decisions made in some of these custody cases. When you do this type of work for so long, after a while all that anger gets focused on you.''