A: Your Honor.
This judge has needed a lawyer on more than one occassion. The incident described in the article was just the one where the excrement hit the fan. She "presided" over a high profile probate case that drug on for years and ended up with criminal indictments being handed down on at least one of the lawyers. Suggestions were made that Lopez was a little too cozy with counsel, but, of course, nothing stuck. She, at the very least, did a Judge Ito. I recall a number of glowing profiles of her in the media during the trial, despite its in ordinate length and her obvious lack of control.