Judge Wilken tells NCAA attorney to “use actual, meaningful words”

U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken is running the antitrust trial against the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) on behalf of Ed O’Bannon. The Wall Street Journal reports the judge is not knowledgeable about sports. ESPN’s W site (devoted to women and sports) says she has been direct, civil and understated during the trial, which ended last Friday, and that, on the first day, she asked the NCAA’s attorney to “use actual, meaningful words” after he started a round of questioning using the term “pay for play.”

You might assume highly successful attorneys would know the first rule of effective professional discourse: Know your audience!