Controversial Federal Judge Steps Down From L.A. Post : Courts: Age required Manuel Real to leave position. He is praised as decisive, but some questioned his volatility.

After more than a decade as chief judge of the federal District Court in Los Angeles, Manuel L. Real has stepped aside, eliciting a sigh of relief from some fellow jurists, who were privately troubled by Real’s volatility and image of intemperance on the bench.

Early in his career, Real, now 69, was best known as a courageous judge who ordered the desegregation of the Pasadena schools.

Many still praise him for being decisive, accessible to lawyers organizations and concerned about the progress of probationers.

But during the past decade, he also has been portrayed as a mercurial man who was too quick to sanction lawyers, one of whom went so far as to question Real’s sanity. Others called the judge a bully.

Real, who stepped down this week, was required by law to leave his position as chief judge before he reached 70 at the end of the month. His successor, chosen according to seniority, is the lower key William Matthew Byrne Jr., 63, whose father once held the post.

Real once engaged in a long-running battle with a federal appeals court that later reassigned a case to preserve “the appearance of justice.” (The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals judges took the criminal case away from Real after he dismissed it three times despite their order that the case go forward. Ultimately, Real claimed vindication after the case was settled on terms favorable to the defendant, Sears Roebuck & Co.)

Real’s adversaries love to quote his favorite maxim to litigants: “This isn’t Burger King. We don’t do it your way here.”

Despite his change in status, Real will continue to be a strong presence in the courthouse. In an unusual move, he is staying on as an active judge, rather than taking “senior” status and a lighter caseload.

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Byrne, like Real a former U.S. attorney, is perhaps best known as the judge who dismissed the Justice Department’s Pentagon Papers case in 1973 after it came to light that Richard Nixon Administration operatives illegally wiretapped defendant Daniel Ellsberg and broke into the office of his psychiatrist looking for compromising information.

Although there has been a lot of courthouse chatter about Byrne’s ascendancy, it is unlikely that there will be any immediate visible change because the chief judge has little power over his colleagues, all of whom have life tenure and are not an easy group to manage.

“I’ve heard Manny refer to them as 26 prima donnas,” said Donald C. Smaltz, a Los Angeles attorney. “They all have federal judgeitis-- ‘no one can touch me.’ That makes it difficult for anyone to manage these personalities,” said Smaltz, who was an assistant U.S. attorney under Real in the mid-1960s and is a close friend of the judge.

Real likes to point out that if Dodger Manager Tommy Lasorda decides a shortstop is not playing well, he can send him down to the minor leagues, and if the presiding judge of the Los Angeles County Superior Court believes that a trial judge is doing a lousy job, he can reassign him. “But I have zippo” power over the other federal judges, Real said in an interview Thursday.

U.S. District Judge Terry J. Hatter Jr. praised Real’s work. “Manny’s been a good representative for our court and I expect Matt to be, too.”

But others, speaking anonymously, were not so kind to the outgoing chief judge.

“The real story is that everyone is tickled pink to see him go,” said one veteran Los Angeles judge.

Another predicted that the court will be run more democratically under Byrne.

Still another opined: “Manny never saw a reform that he liked.”

Although many lawyers criticize Real as brusque and unyielding in the courtroom, a lot of those lawyers also say he is quite different off the bench--warm, charming and a raconteur.

Real knows he is controversial, doesn’t shrink from it and said he is proud of the job he has done as chief judge since 1982.

“The judge’s job is a job in which you can’t please everyone. The job of chief judge is a job in which you can please only a few people,” Real said, sitting in his chambers on the second floor of the courthouse built in 1937, when Franklin D. Roosevelt was President and Real was a teen-ager in San Pedro, where he still resides.

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One person Real clearly has not pleased is civil rights lawyer Stephen Yagman. In 1984, Real fined Yagman $250,000 for what he viewed as unprofessional conduct in his handling of a civil suit.

Yagman denounced Real in terms unheard of in the usually sedate world of federal litigation. “He is a tyrant who is a disgrace to democracy--he is a modern day Torquemada,” Yagman said, comparing Real to the head of the Spanish Inquisition. The lawyer even accused Real of suffering from “mental disorders.”

The County Bar Assn. rebuked Yagman for his comments. But after a lengthy appeal, he did not have to pay the fine. Yagman has continued to criticize Real and suggested last year that Real was behind a pending disciplinary case against him by a special committee of the federal court, a charge Real denies.

Real maintains that he is tough but fair. “What’s wrong with that?” he asked.

Some judges said they expect Byrne to facilitate smoother courthouse operations. “He’s an accomplished administrator,” said one, speaking anonymously. “He’s been gnawing at the bit to get in there.”

For his part, the circumspect Byrne, a graduate of USC and USC Law School, gave no indication that he planned major changes, though he acknowledged: “I’m sure that Judge Real and I have different management styles.” Byrne said there is “something special” about taking on the position held by his father, who was appointed to the federal bench by President Harry S. Truman in 1950 after being a prizefighter, railroad engineer, state legislator and state court judge.

A portrait of Byrne’s father, along with those of the other former presiding judges, hangs in Real’s courtroom, a courtroom he will continue to occupy for a while under an agreement with Byrne.

Despite Real’s hard-nosed reputation, some people have a soft spot in their hearts for him. On Thursday, he showed a reporter a holiday letter he received from a man he sentenced to probation in a 1968 draft card burning case.

“I couldn’t let pass by unmarked this 25th anniversary of the new lease on life you afforded me in your courtroom,” Lincoln Robbins wrote. “That generosity on your part, Judge Real, will stay with me for the rest of my life.”

Judging the Judge

As he steps aside as chief judge of the federal District Court in Los Angeles, Manuel L. Real leaves behind some choice comments--his own, and those made by others about him. Here is a sampling.

In His Own Words

“This isn’t Burger King. We don’t do it your way here. We do it the way it’s supposed to be done.”

“I don’t view my job as somehow having to satisfy the feelings of somebody I’m sentencing. . . . I didn’t take this job as a popularity contest.”

Other Voices

“I think he’s a terrible judge. He has no judicial temperament. . . . In Real’s court, lawyers and defendants leave with a feeling that the whole system is capricious.”

--Victor Sherman, Santa Monica criminal defense lawyer.

“He is tough with the lawyers, fair with the clients and doesn’t waste any time. He can’t be intimidated by anyone, including the government.”

--Harland Braun, West Los Angeles criminal defense lawyer.