Ending Lawyers’ Nightmare

The  Association of Business Trial Lawyers gathered Tuesday night at the Four Seasons in downtown San Francisco to dine together and listen to a talk called “Qualcomm Resolved: By the Lawyers Who Ended a Lawyer’s Worst Nightmare.” Speakers Joel Zeldin of Shartsis Friese, U.S. District Judge Susan lllston of San Francisco and Stephen McG. Bundy, an ethics professor at UC Berkeley School of Law, told the story of the fight six attorneys endured to reverse sanctions imposed on them for their roles in a discovery disaster during a trial between Qualcomm and Broadcom. Zeldin, who represented several of the accused attorneys throughout the three-year ordeal, mesmerized the crowd with a reenactment of the most colorful courtroom moments from the experience. Illston and Bundy offered insight on the events and advice on how to avoid getting in hot water with the court. As lllston put it, the sanctions imbroglio – which will likely be studied for years to come in law school ethics courses – is the rare case where “the stars, victims, villains and heroes are all lawyers.”