Business Law Today: Lessons in Civility from Zenith v. Matsushita

Louis A. Lehr Jr. and John L. Ropiequet of Arnstein & Lehr LLP in Chicago recount the behind-the-scenes efforts of one federal judge and counsel to engender professional civility in the highly contentious litigation that led to the Supreme Court’s famous decision,Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574 (1986). Lehr and Ropiequet cast several colorful vignettes. Among other stories, they recount the mysterious appearance of a referee’s outfit and whistle on Judge Becker’s bench (and his playful donning thereof), the ceremonial photographing of the literal “setting of the scheduling order in concrete”, with counsel attired in construction outfits, and the creation of the Bon Mot Trophy competition for courtroom “zingers” and the gratis transcript copies awarded to the winners in addition to the storied trophy. And every litigator should consider using Judge Becker’s form of pretrial order, including its “Time-Out” provisions for counsel to invoke when the pace of litigation is just too unbearable.

—Irwin Warren, committee cochair, and Jay Minga Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP, New York, NY

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