Three DLA Piper litigators in Dallas have withdrawn from defending recruiter Evan Jowers in a trade secrets suit filed by Austin’s MWK Recruiting. Last month, a magistrate judge in Austin had criticized the DLA Piper team for how it handled a discovery dispute.

At that hearing on May 1,  a DLA Piper lawyer told U.S. Magistrate Judge Andrew Austin that  miscommunication led to the firm improperly identifying a court filing as “certified”—signaling it had conferred with MWK’s lawyers in good faith before submitting the motion—when that was not true.