Was it disrespectful for a law firm to send an associate to federal court in Brooklyn, New York, to represent a big client, in this case Facebook Inc., to a pretrial conference unaccompanied by partners?
Judge Nicholas Garaufis in the Eastern District of New York thought so on Sept. 24, when he told Kirkland & Ellis litigation associate Aulden Burcher-DuPont that it was “outrageous and irresponsible and insulting” that his firm thought “so little” of the court that they would send him to the proceedings alone.
