Matthew F. Kennelly

Sharp, hard working and fair.

A kind hearted judge who is extremely bright and honest. My family and I had a case in front of him, and he took great interest in understanding what the issues were. We didn’t get the verdict we felt we deserved. It was a complex case, and may have been difficult for the jury to follow. But we were grateful that he at least let us try, and was as fair as he could be to both sides of the party. You can tell from his his eyes, that he is an honest judge, and we need more judges like him. He also has humanity in his judgement.

Kennelly is the hardest working judge in that building. He is smart and runs a good trial. But a warning: he doesn’t suffer fools gladly.

Eminently competent and a hard worker, but his courtroom temperament has deteriorated significantly over the years. Hard to determine if it is caused by his growing God-complex or he is unhappy in what he views as a dead-end job. Very disturbed in a recent trial when, during a side-bar, he made political comments that were wholly inappropriate and may show some deeper issues he's facing.

In open court he is ill tempered, often goes off half-cocked, has an extremely rigid view of the law on spur of the moment issues. He needlessly threatens lawyers all the time and generally always seems angry at the world. That being said, he is fine if not above average and demonstrates excellent scholarship with in his written opinions. He is a paradox. An above average judge who you need to send your associate in to court to deal with. Not good dinner company I would suppose.

Brilliant judge that does not tolerate fools on either side. Temper can flare if you irritate him. Was not really involved in settlement discussions or flexible in discovery deadlines. One of my favorite judges in the ND Il

It all depends on what day of the week it is with this Judge. Some days is all roses and sunshine, others, it is the seven rings of hell.

An Extremely knowledgeable jurist, Judge Kennelly shows his depth of understanding of complex white collar cases with his every pronouncement, every question, every nuance of the case. You also sense his humanity in his judgements.

Probably, the worse judge in the system.

I've tried a fraud and drug case before Judge Kennelly and he is undeniably brilliant. He's a little prickly at times but as a veteran of 26th and Cal, his so-called bad temperament is nothing compared to some of the asses sitting on the State side. I have tremendous respect for him. The one or two times I was in his cross hairs I invariably deserved it. He forces you to raise your game and I like that.

Judge Kennelly impresses me as a no-nonsense judge who is always prepared. But woe betide the counsel who doesn't follow his orders to the letter, and doesn't move for some relief from them.

As a prose plaintiff, I was under horrible wave attack in front of his bench which made me not able to talk at all, and my body was keeping wobbling from attack. To me, he was siding and flattering the power and faces instead of justice. He did not even try to understand the nature of suit. What a poor puppet honor guard.

He is a good (hell, outstanding) judge. But wow, he is a "Holderman mini-me" when it comes to termperament. Not necessarily a bad thing when the lawyer deserves a good thrashing, but awful when you are the collateral damage. Be careful with this one, folks.

Hard-working, fair, knows the law, and tolerates no nonsense. Best judge in the ND of Ill.

Judge Kennelly is irratic, impatient and flys off the handle - much like Judge Darrah in this regard - another cross between Mr. Know-it-all and Dr. Jeckle-Mr. Hyde. He's fulll of himself and jumps too fast to conclusions about issues, lawyers and parties. Smart, but lacks real wisdom - but, heck, isn't a Federal Judge supposed to be "smart". Also much too quick to take unnecessary and unwarranted shots a lawyers. It seems he can't restrain himself from doing so. He's like a time-bomb, ready to go off. He doesn't know that he that he could sure use huge doses of humility, patience and Valium (Diazepam). Too bad there's no ready cure for his condescension, other than to disgorge him of his Ivy League - his doesn't stink - superiority complex. Must give him one thing - he's a very hard worker - a real type "A" - but he should slow down and smell the justice. Having said all this, one could do much worse, believe it or not, in the Northern District's judge assignment lotto.

I am not a lawyer, just a supporter of someone who had jury trial and bench trial where Judge Kennelly was presiding. He really was very fair and square in his decision. I was very impressed with his handling of the case. The only thing that I thought he did wrong was that he allowed the prosecutors witness to lie under oath. The prosector witness were a bunch of blatant liars. Judge Kennelly should not have allowed that, should have dismissed the witness immediately because it clouds the minds of the jurors which isn't fair to the defendant.

You never know what to expect from this guy. One minute, he's relatively pleasant, but then the medication wears off and the wolfman appears. Clearly smart and highly competent, but will fly off the handle in a heartbeat.

Judge Kennelly is one of the best judges in the ND Ill. He works hard, is sharp and gives both sides, including the little guy, a fair chance. He doesn't tolerate game-playing; he's very no-nonsense. He does lose his cool sometimes too quickly, but it doesn't affect his judgement and so is a small price to pay to have an intelligent fair judge handle your case. If you have a case in front of him just be sure to be on top of your case.

What a monster! A bleeding heart liberal who handles criminals and nutjob litigants with deference while flipping out--all the time--on his loyal staff. Very smart, if not nearly as smart as he thinks he is. Ill-suited for his dream job.

Absolutely terrible, condescending, knows the law but chooses to ignore it, irrational, will do a SOJ as a matter of right if I get him again. Would rather have Guzman then him if that says anything.