"In my business there are a lot of 'geniuses' and 'experts' and I put both of those terms in quotes," Corrigan said, but Zack, despite her high competence and intelligence, never acted like a know-it-all.
Boni described watching Zack in a three-and-a-half-hour oral argument before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in an antitrust case over businesses distributing roofing and siding materials in northern New Jersey.
Judge Edward R. Becker, one of the judges sitting on the panel, and Zack went toe-to-toe to dissect the record to ultimately determine if summary judgment in favor of the defendants should be reversed, Boni said.
"To hear Joanne and Judge Becker go back and forth, back and forth, citing this voluminous record," was something Boni said he never saw before and he thinks he will not see again.
"Joanne's ability to articulate the facts and evidence so fluidly and fluently, that was just awe-inspiring," Boni said. That case was Rossi v. Standard Roofing.
Zack recruited Boni to join Kohn Swift around 1994 after they were co-counsel on a case from different firms.
Even though Zack had retired from work because she was first diagnosed with breast cancer, Boni said he convinced her to come out of retirement and form Boni & Zack. The firm specializes in antitrust, consumer protection and copyright law.
Boni had brought the Google case with him when they formed their new firm, but Zack stepped into the fray when Boni had his own fight with Hodgkin's lymphoma cancer.
Zack negotiated a complex settlement, Boni said. Although the settlement was rejected by U.S. District Judge Denny Chin of the Southern District of New York, Zack successfully argued to Chin that the case should be certified as a class action. The decision is now on appeal to the Second Circuit.
Alex Macgillivray, general counsel for Twitter, helped negotiate the settlement with Zack in the Google book search case.
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