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THE ROBING ROOM
where judges are judged

Civil Litigation - Private
comment #:
21463
rating:
3
This judge is petty and can be quite vindictive. He is the worst federal judge that I have appeared before over the course of four decades of professional litigation. Formerly an undistinguished attorney in corporate law firms, this judge clearly favors defendants in civil litigation. He sits on dispositive motions for months, while holding the parties to inflexible pretrial deadlines (e.g. motions in limine, voir dire and jury instructions), only to dismiss long-pending dispositive motions a few days before trial, after the parties have incurred major expenses. His rulings on dispositive motions are frequently reversed in the First Circuit. In this district, this judge is also well-known for his practice of ruling on non-dispositive motions (e.g., discovery disputes) within minutes of their filing, without giving the other party a chance to respond. Some attorneys in this district have prepared template 'Notice of Intent to Respond' motions, for immediate electronic filing, in the hope that they can be filed before the judge rules against them. If you are lucky enough to get to trial before this judge, you have to contend with his astounding lack of knowledge regarding both substantive law and evidence. He becomes extremely annoyed if you raise a legal issue about which he is uninformed. Rather than taking the time to study and analyze the unfamiliar issue, he rules off-the-cuff and berates counsel, all the while trying to cover up his lack of knowledge. His opinions and orders are often simply illogical, and ultimately demonstrative of his cavalier attitude with respect to understanding complex issues. He is also well-known for mistreating attorneys, both during hearings and in docket entry orders and published decisions, in which he scolds lawyers and employs language intended to ridicule them. He reserves his most caustic comments for competent attorneys, given his extreme insecurity and lack of humility about his own lack of knowledge. I believe that he has a misogynist bent -- while he is capable of mistreating just about anyone, he appears to do so with women more often. Unfortunately, this judge has no redeeming value, except, perhaps, his occasional good humor and the fact that, while on trial, he puts in full days and is punctual.
7/15/19, 2:13 AM
Hon. Francisco A. Besosa
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