The Cognitive Coffee Cup: Opening Argument in the Complex Commercial Trial
by Andrew Flake
In reviewing developments in week one of the Elizabeth Holmes/Theranos trial, a prosecution expected to last for over four months, I immediately thought of the preparation necessary on both sides to deliver their opening statements. Trials like...
Appellate Advocacy in the Zoom Era
by Andrew Flake
What has changed, in this time of virtual cat-filters and huge daily dollops of professional screen time, about good appellate advocacy? Instead of standing behind a podium, in a quiet and majestic appellate courtroom, ...
Delivering a Compelling Closing in the Complex Business Dispute
by Andrew Flake
In complex litigation, we are continually distilling the simple from the complex, assessing multiple and often nuanced legal arguments, assessing hundreds of exhibits, sifting through the details of company work. With...
Dotting the i’s (and Sealing the Envelope) In Arbitration-Award Challenges
by Andrew Flake
The Federal Arbitration Act is oriented toward encouraging arbitration and upholding arbitral awards. And just as the substantive bases to challenge an award are narrow, so too are the procedural...
What We Can Learn from the First All-Virtual Patent Jury Trial
by Andrew Flake
After a week-long patent infringement trial in federal district court in Seattle, a civil jury hit gaming company Valve Corporation with a $4 million verdict for patent infringement....
Federal Court Hearings and Chill? Applause for More Live Streaming
The federal courts' policymaking body, the Judicial Conference of the United States, has just kicked off a pilot program in selected district courts to livestream the audio of certain court proceedings. Despite the concern expressed by some that a...
ROSS-Westlaw Copyright Feud: Approaches to Litigation Cost Management
What options does a smaller defendant have when a larger and better-funded competitor uses litigation as a means to exert financial pressure and drain resources? This scenario is one that legal AI company ROSS Intelligence, as a result of copyright litigation filed by...
Phoning It In: Telephonic Mediation in a Virtual World
A litigator friend of mine recently shared her frustration over being forced to mediate a case by phone. The mediation was being set up by a government agency, and the agency representative in question was not...
How COVID-Era Technology is Driving Down the Litigation Cost Curve
In order to move cases forward during the pandemic, we have accelerated technology deployment in litigation, setting up major new efficiencies for litigants. These technologies were there in some form prior to today. But widespread acceptance was missing: in...