More than 100 lawyers squeezed into a courtroom in Boise, Idaho, on July 29 to argue before a panel of seven judges about which U.S. courthouse should host the massive litigation over the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
Plaintiffs’ lawyers soon touched on a sticky issue — how to find a judge untainted by ties to the energy business. “The entire country has been watching this unfold 24-7,” said Elizabeth Cabraser, a partner at San Francisco’s Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein. “They’ll be watching the litigation. There will be speculation. This is an instance where the highest-profile litigation there’s ever been in this country will require a judge beyond reproach. Real is not the problem. It’s perception that’s the issue.”
