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Quinn Emanuel Booted From Marvell Semiconductor Case
The Recorder
January 22, 2009
With a trial looming, lawyers for Marvell Semiconductor from Quinn Emanuel Urquhart Oliver & Hedges have been booted from a high-profile trade secrets case brought by Jasmine Networks.
Quinn Emanuel was disqualified last week by Santa Clara, Calif., County Superior Court Judge Kevin Murphy because a star lateral hire, Robert Feldman, had advised Jasmine in the same case when he was at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati. Originally set for trial on March 2, Murphy on Wednesday set the date back to May 4 to allow Marvell's new lawyers from Latham & Watkins to get up to speed.
It's the latest twist in a dispute that began when Marvell's former general counsel forgot to hang up after leaving a message for Jasmine's legal chief and continued to talk with two colleagues on speakerphone about allegedly stealing trade secrets from Jasmine.
Though the firm's not on the case now, Wilson Sonsini lawyers Irwin Gross and David Kramer investigated the claims and filed suit for Jasmine on Sept. 12, 2001. But according to billing records, they also talked "case strategy" that year with Feldman, who was then chairman of Wilson’s litigation department. Feldman hadn't worked on the case since coming to Quinn Emanuel in November 2007, but Murphy found enough evidence to disqualify the firm.
"I do think there is evidence -- and this is not based upon speculation -- that given Mr. Feldman's role as the head of the litigation department, when coupled with the documents that the moving parties placed heavy reliance upon, which refers to strategy, that Mr. Feldman did have contact with the case and it wasn't peripheral in nature," Murphy said at a Jan. 13 hearing, according to a transcript. "It was significant."
Marvell brought Quinn Emanuel's John Potter on the case in October last year. Marvell, which famously goes through lawyers like socks, had previously used Buchalter Nemer and, briefly, Fenwick & West in the litigation.
In court documents, Potter said that the firm ran a conflicts check that didn't turn up anything. After it came to light that Wilson had launched the suit, the firm called Feldman, who was in Europe, and concluded that "Feldman never personally represented Jasmine and was not in possession of any confidential information material to the lawsuit." The firm also said it got the go-ahead from well-known legal ethicist Charles Wolfram after Jasmine filed the motion to disqualify in November.
But Jasmine's lawyers at McGrane Greenfield pointed to block billings that Wilson Sonsini sent to Jasmine where Kramer and Gross consulted with Feldman on the case. They also contended that as head of litigation, he would be in the know.
"The law is absolutely clear that if the lawyer who switches sides worked on the case, then he goes, and so goes the private law firm that he goes to work for, and that's it," said William McGrane, partner with McGrane Greenfield, at last week's hearing.
Quinn Emanuel filed an emergency writ with the California Supreme Court, seeking to stay the case and asking that the disqualification be vacated last week, without success. In that filing, Quinn noted that it has 18 lawyers working the case who have spent 6,000 hours preparing for the trial.
Potter declined to comment publicly. McGrane said that "under the circumstances, while it was regrettable that this kind of action had to be taken by the court, it was entirely predictable."
