SAN FRANCISCO — As trial approaches in the trade secret showdown between Waymo and Uber, the judge overseeing the case conceded there's a good chance jurors will find out the Morrison & Foerster lawyers representing Uber at trial are part of the same firm that represented the company in a transaction at the heart of the case.

Speaking at the final pretrial conference Tuesday morning, U.S. District Judge William Alsup said that despite efforts to avoid identifying MoFo litigators by their firm name at trial, he thinks there's a “50-50” chance jurors will find out they are part of the same firm that handled Uber Technologies Inc.'s acquisition of Otto and commissioned a pre-deal due diligence report that will likely come up at trial.

“It could be that despite good faith by both sides and the judge, it could become obvious to the jurors that you lawyers are the same MoFo,” said Alsup to MoFo's Arturo González, one of Uber's lead lawyers on the case.