"The Robing Room: NY State Judges

Hon. Joan M. Kenney	See Rating Details
Supreme Court
New York County	See Comments

Attorney Average Rating: 4.8 - 33 rating(s) Non-Attorney Average Rating: 4.0 - 3 rating(s)	Please send me alerts on this judge E-mail Address:

Add your own rating

E-Mail Address ()

* *

Confirm E-mail Address

* * *

Zip

Occupation

Add a comment only

Only items marked with (*) are averaged into the displayed overall rating.

General Rating Criteria

* Temperament		(1=Awful,10=Excellent)
* Scholarship		(1=Awful,10=Excellent)
* Industriousness		(1=Not at all industrious,10=Highly industrious)
* Ability to Handle Complex Litigation		(1=Awful,10=Excellent)
* Punctuality		(1=Chronically Late,10=Always on Time)
* General Ability to Handle Pre-Trial Matters		(1=Not all Able, 10=Extremely Able)
* General Ability as a Trial Judge		(1=Not all Able, 10=Extremely Able)
Flexibility In Scheduling		(1=Completely Inflexible,10=Very Flexible)

Criminal Rating Criteria (if applicable)

* Evenhandedness in Criminal Litigation		(1=Demonstrates Bias,10=Entirely Evenhanded)
General Inclination Regarding Bail		(1=Pro-Defense,10=Pro-Government)
Involvement in Plea Discussions		(1=Not at all Involved, 10=Very Involved)
General Inclination in Criminal Cases Pretrial Stage		(1=Pro-prosecution,10=Pro-defense)
General Inclination in Criminal Cases Trial Stage		(1=Pro-prosecution,10=Pro-defense)
General Inclination in Criminal Cases Sentencing Stage		(1=Pro-prosecution,10=Pro-defense)

Civil Rating Criteria (if applicable)

* Evenhandedness in Civil Litigation		(1=Not at all Evenhanded,10=Entirely Evenhanded)
Involvement in Settlement Discussions		(1=Not at all Involved,10=Very Involved)
General Inclination		(1=Pro-defendant, 10=Pro-plaintiff)

Comments

Please type what you see below:

Not an even number!

What others have said about Hon. Joan M. Kenney

Comments

Litigant

Comment #: NY11088
Rating:1.0

Comments:
She has a slovenly appearance and a demeanor to match it. As well, her hate is so palpable that it glows and radiates. In a case before her she wrote a tasteless and prejudicial statement. I pity anybody that appears before her.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: NY10487
Rating:Not Rated
Comments:
An absolute disgrace to the Court. How she is allowed to sit is beyond me. Rude, offensive, little knowledge of the law, goes way over the line for pro se defendants. Have successfully appealed 4 of her absurd decions. Nobody likes a bully.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: NY10108
Rating:1.0

Comments:
Judge Kenney makes one shameful of our profession.

Criminal Defense Lawyer

Comment #: NY9785
Rating:8.7

Comments:
It's nice to see a judge who actually cares. She is one of the few judges that read your motion papers and have thoughtful questions. Any motion writer who takes the time to craft an argument will appreciate a motion appearance before Judge Kenny.

Litigant

Comment #: NY8779
Rating:10.0

Comments:
She's the definition of honorable. Succinct and thoroughly humane. You need a flesh and blood human being--emotions and all--to adjudicate in a just and righteous way, not simply in a letter-of-the-law way: she's not a Pharisee! She's a mensch. Why are females in traditionally male occupations always judged more stringently on decorum and deportment than their male peers!? As in: Did Hillary smile enough? Was she shrill? Was she too loud? I admire and respect Judge Kenney. Always will.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: NY8753
Rating:9.5

Comments:
I found trial with this judge to be a very positive experience. She is a accommodating and fair. If you act unprofessional or rudely she will not tolerate that. She is a very good civil trial judge.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: NY8557
Rating:1.2

Comments:
The law is only an impediment to what this judge feels about a case. Her decisions deny litigants a fair determination of the issues and unfairly impose costly and unnecessary appeals to reverse her orders. She a monument to the politics on appointments over competence and judicial temperament.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: NY8363
Rating:10.0

Comments:
My experience in front of Judge Kenney was like no other. A breathe of fresh air! A well-prepared and reasonable judge.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: NY7780
Rating:1.3

Comments:
I have now had several cases in front of Judge Kenney where I am left utterly dumbfounded by her decisions. She lacks a basic knowledge of both procedural and substantive law. She fails to enunciate any basis whatsoever for her decisions. The bottom-line is that she is not thoughtful. I have never written a review before about a judge but I have had it with her nonsensical decisions. She has wasted thousands of dollars on my clients' money, my time, my energy, and frankly, has eroded my faith in our "esteemed" court system. My advice, make a friend in room 130 and try to have your case assigned to a different judge.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: NY7704
Rating:9.0

Comments:
Judge Kenney gets my highest compliment as a Trial Judge: She lets you try your case.

What you don't get is as important as what you get. You don't get the "My way or the highway" speech, needless fights about "who runs the Courtroom." You don't get unrealistic expectations about scheduling experts, and you don't get micromanagement of your case by questions from the Bench.

As with any Judge, be prepared and know your case. If you do, you will find her Courtroom an even handed, calm place in which to try your case. And yes, the Judge does have strong opinions about politics and some other matters. But it doesn't affect the trial, and if you are offended by someone sharing their views on life then you probably shouldn't be trying cases for a living.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: NY7414
Rating:9.8

Comments:
Judge Kenney is smart and practical. I was sent to her for the trial of a case that was on the trial calendar for two years because the Judge in that Part ignored the matter. Once we got before Judge Kenney the case was settled after openings. She did an excellent job being sensitive to the client's needs.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: NY6834
Rating:2.2

Comments:
She has one of the worst track records as far as timing for deciding motions. Expect it to take many more months than allotted by the rules.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: NY6801
Rating:1.0

Comments:
lacks any necessary judicial temperament. Clearly confrontational without any justification.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: NY6562
Rating:9.9

Comments:
I recently tried a case with Judge Kenny. The experience could not have been more pleasant. The whole experience was professional and efficient. Not a minute of wasted time. Be prepared and your time with her will be worthwhile.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: NY6002
Rating:1.0

Comments:
Abusive and rude to everyone in the courtroom. Her rulings contain no reasoning and seem random. While that randomness may not demonstrate partiality, her temperment is outrageous and unbecoming of a judge, or even a kindergartener. Judge Kenney is emotionally and intellectually incompetement, and it is a very sad statement about the NY state judiciary that someone like her continues to be on the bench.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: NY6000
Rating:1.3

Comments:
There is an utter lack of judicial temperment. This Judge clearly has no concept of how to actually practice law and the challenges inherent therein. The part is unwilling to accept stipulations and agreements between counsel and can be rude and inflexible in their rulings. The Court issues two line decisions that ignore the facts of the case and what if any legal basis the decision is based on.

Litigant

Comment #: NY5728
Rating:1.0

Comments:
Mentally I'll for sure, Joan has difficulty with reality. her acute lack of understanding of basic law is frightening. her violent outbursts and general demeanor seem closer to a disturbed patient at a state facility, not a judge.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: NY5616
Rating:8.9

Comments:
I received a short decision for a case that needed a quick response. It was the right decision and sometimes our cases don't deserve more than two or three sentences. To the point. The other side appealed and it was affirmed.

Criminal Defense Lawyer

Comment #: NY5480
Rating:Not Rated
Comments:
The justice appreciates a well-prepared and reasonable litigant, so you know what you need to do when appearing before her. I've seen her act unreasonably towards counsel in court, so I think she needs to change that. She was a judge in Harlem small claims court, so she has seen them all and that may have colored a lot of her reactions to litigants. I think she sometimes unnecessarily try to be so pragmatic that she forgets there is an applicable law. Overall, she's fair and tries to be fair.

Criminal Defense Lawyer

Comment #: NY5475
Rating:Not Rated
Comments:
One irrational, inexplicable ruling after another; I have never seen anything like it. The decisions make no reference to the law or to the facts.

Not even handed.

No judicial temperament whatsoever.

It's a shame to have to practice law in a part like this.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: NY5314
Rating:2.2

Comments:
On a basic notice issue negligence case, the judge did not hold oral argument on a SJ motion and clearly did not read the papers. She sat on the SJ motion for months and then issued a two line decision with generic negligence case law (short form order) denying SJ with absolutely no mention of the parties, issues or facts of the case or reason for denial. it might have well been a rubber stamp "denial" of SJ so no thought need occur. The parties will incur significant cost heading to the AD for an actual ruling on the substantive issues.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: NY4965
Rating:9.8

Comments:
I have tried two cases with Judge Kenney, and I find her refreshing in her pragmatic approach to litigation. She has a thorough understanding of the Rules of Evidence, something many of her colleagues don't understand. I suppose that some of the posts that are "name calling" are simply attorneys who are either unprepared or very unprofessional. On conference days I have seen attorneys abuse Judge Kenney, and she has ignored the insults. She should ignore the insults seen here as well.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: NY4878
Rating:1.2

Comments:
She started speaking to my client directly and scaring him. She then denied my motion to amend the complaint which should be freely given, as there was absolutely no discovery yet. Even my adversary (in private) could not believe that I lost. My client got disgusted with her for this (and other things) and just dropped the lawsuit.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: NY4175
Rating:1.5

Comments:
This is judge can be outright nasty. She is arrogant, has a poor and unprofessional demeanor and should be working in a Brooklyn bakery rather than on the bench.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: NY4140
Rating:9.8

Comments:
Terrific judge with a practical sense of what lawyers need to get done.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: NY4138
Rating:9.3

Comments:
This is a very smart, hardworking Judge. She expects everyone in her courtroom to behave as professionals. From what I can see from the other posts, it is clear that her "bad reviews" are from grudge informants who did not get what they wanted from the Court. BTW if she were a male judge would the personal attacks be the same?

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: NY3858
Rating:6.6

Comments:
This is an interesting Judge to be before. If you come to the table ready to proceed, organized and prepared you will be treated with incredible respect. If not, you will be in trouble and will understand the bad ratings on this site. However, she is absolutely lawyer friendly and very protective of lawyers. It's obvious she practiced herself and understands She clearly does her best to be fair in a "solemonesque" type of way and lets lawyers try their cases without much interference which these days is very rare.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: NY3588
Rating:1.0

Comments:
Judge Kenney is possibly the dumbest Judge I have ever been before -- I would rather her chair offer rulings. Her brief Decisions reveal her inability to grasp even the simplest of issues and the fact that she has not read the papers. Her presence on the bench is an utter travesty.

Prosecutor

Comment #: NY3537
Rating:2.0

Comments:
This is the worst judge I have ever appeared before in Criminal Court. She did no allocutions on pleas and yelled at defendants who were accused of committing crimes in her neighborhood. I saw the "her bark is worse than her bite" comment - that's no excuse for a judge. On bail, she was horrendous, seemingly unimpressed by serious violent allegations. Hard to believe she's a judge.

Criminal Defense Lawyer

Comment #: NY3475
Rating:2.9

Comments:
Judge Kenney handled my case so poorly it required multiple motions by the various defendants and several appeals before we were able to repair the damage she did. The judge clearly does not read the papers and issues one or two line decisions that fail to explain the basis for her denials. It is unfortunate that her behavior and ineptitude at being a judge has cost my client and several co-defendants tens of thousands of dollars because she could not even count to confirm the timeliness of one of my motions. Luckily the appellate division confirmed that February has 28 days in the month and 29 in a leap year. That was something the judge "overlooked" when incorrectly denying one of my motions. Otherwise she is nice once you crack through her rough and brach exterior.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: NY3358
Rating:8.9

Comments:
I agree completely with the post below me. Judge Kenney is wonderful. Her intolerance for attorneys who disrespect her court rules or who offer invalid excuses for their untimeliness is completely justified. Judge Kenney is extremely efficient and thoroughly understands the law and also the realities of a case. The negative feedbacks on this site are likely cheap attempts at retaliation due to the legitimate criticism some may have received as a result of their own reprehensible legal misconduct. When attorneys conduct themselves properly in a professional and courteous manner, Judge Kenney is always extremely fair, reasonable, and treats people as human beings.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: NY3340
Rating:7.9

Comments:
Incredibly efficient and gets to the heart of the matter. Definitely not the worst temperament I've seen on the bench, but she has very little tolerance for excuses on why a case is not proceeding according to schedule or mundane scheduling issues. Once a matter is ripe for trial - she is amendable to hearing all sides, passing fair judgments and will not hesitate to take her robe off, get in the trenches with trial attorneys and assist in settlements. She is very bright and managed to do a global settlement on one of my multimillion dollar cases that had been pending for years! She took four hours with us and got it done - get past her rough exterior because I think it's a New York thing.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: NY2718
Rating:3.8

Comments:
Not a legal scholar, relying instead on her recollection of practice "back in the day." Tends to make snap judgments and then changes her mind. Overall fair towards litigants.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: NY2075
Rating:2.2

Comments:
The worst judicial temperament I have ever encountered. A real screamer.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: NY1822
Rating:2.5

Comments:
Judge Kenney actually used the word "irregardless" in a Memorandum Decision. And her legal reasoning is as deficient as her lexicon.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: NY1801
Rating:1.8

Comments:
Capable of exhibiting extremely bizzare behavior and making entirely inappropriate comments towards counsel; refuses to accept any correspondence sent to chambers and insists that all matters by conducted only on Thursdays. However, I agree with the other evaluation, after she finishes chewing you up, she can be agreeable.

Criminal Defense Lawyer

Comment #: NY292
Rating:7.3

Comments:
Judge Kenney is known to venture verbally into areas that some might view as offensive, abusive or inappropriate. When you crack through the shell, however, she can be quite even-handed and suprisingly pleasant. Her bark is worse than her bite.