THE ROBING ROOM

My experience with Judge Mihm is perhaps dated by a few years, but I was very impressed with both his fairness and his judicial temperament -- and this is a judge who threw my case out on summary judgment (subsequently reversed). Judge Mihm does his best to be fair to all parties. He listens to the parties' legal arguments and factual presentations. He tries to apply the law honestly and without ideological or results-oriented bias. I listed him as leaning slightly toward defendants only because I sense that he is a hair more skeptical of plaintiffs than he is of defendants. But he is certainly not one to buy either side's arguments hook, line and sinker, but carefully considers the facts and the law. He can get bollixed up on overly complicated arguments, but that's more the lawyers' fault than his (if you write like Kant, you don't deserve to be understood). In short, I would be happy to have him hear my civil case no matter which side I was on. And if I ever became a judge (not going to happen), his demeanor is one that I would want to emulate.