Biglaw

Federal Judge Benchslaps Biglaw Partners -- And Issues A Warning For The Future

The judge was... not happy.

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There’s little Above the Law likes better than a good ol’ fashioned benchslap. When a judge goes out of their way to rebuke lawyers in their courtroom, well, it can be awfully fun. And that only goes double when Biglaw partners are the center of it all.

The case is a patent dispute between Finjan Inc. and Juniper Networks Inc. Back in January, Judge William Alsup of the Northern District of California called it an “exceptional case” saying Finjan presented a damages case “fiasco” that the 2018 trial “wasted a great deal of everyone’s time and energy,” and made “unforced errors” leading up to a second trial.

This week, Judge Alsup awarded Juniper $5.9 million in fees, as recommended by a special master. Though this might seem like a big award, Juniper also sought sanctions. That was just not in the cards. BUT Judge Alsup did see fit for call out Finjan — and their former Biglaw Kramer Levin attorneys — for their behavior during the case. And issued a warning for future cases, as reported by Law.com:

In a nine-page order issued Monday, Alsup found that Finjan’s conduct—while at times “vociferous and belligerent”—did not cross the line to willfully false statements or other egregious conduct that can give rise to Section 1927 sanctions.

But, he wrote, “In no way does this order vindicate attorneys James R. Hannah, Lisa Kobialka, and Paul J. Andre. Their conduct was improper and frustrated the fairness of the proceedings. Judges in the future should take this into account when dealing with them in future cases.”

Kramer Levin offered the following statement: “We stand by the work our partners did on this matter, and we strongly disagree with the criticism.”

But, um, yikes, not words you want to read.

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Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of The Jabot podcast, and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).

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