Guido Calabresi

This is to put it directly the most intelligent judge I have ever been before. I have tried scores of trials in federal court and argued about a dozen appeals in the Second Circuit, and hearing he is on the panel is always a great comfort.

He is the poster child for why we need term limits for federal judges. I'm sure he was once brilliant, but the light bulb is dim. We had an appeal of a case where the trial judge had wrongly dismissed the insurance coverage case on late notice grounds. There was intense briefing on what the client knew and didn't know before giving notice, and several other complex issues on appeal. During oral argument,Judge Calabresi looked brain dead and made a comment indicating he had no idea about what was going on. Despite the complexity of the appeal the court ruled in two weeks that notice was late because the client was negligent. Not only was the client not negligent, there isn't one other appellate case in the country that has used a negligence standard for late notice. It is always based on what the client knew, not what it should have known. This only cost the client $200 million.

He is very bright, very pompous, and intellectually curious and engaging. You'll get a better shot at a reversal in a criminal case with him than with most other circuit judges, but if he's disinterested or simply wants to affirm, for whatever reason, he is capable of pretty much ignoring what he doesn't want to confront.