The Brooklyn judge made international headlines earlier this week after he slammed Facebook’s decision to send only a first-year associate into his courtroom for a terrorism-related hearing. Kirkland & Ellis, which is representing Facebook against two lawsuits that accuse the social media giant of facilitating terrorist networking, has played it safe and been deliberately overstated in its response to Judge Garaufis’ demand to speak to someone more senior. Yesterday, the firm sent no fewer than five lawyers into court to apologise to Judge Garaufis and restate Facebook’s commitment to fighting terrorism.

Taking it seriously

‘Your honour, we hear you loud and clear, and we apologise. We feel badly,’ said Kirkland & Ellis partner Craig Primis. Joining him in court were two other Kirkland partners and one associate, as well as Facebook deputy general counsel Paul Grewal. ‘Facebook has every intention of keeping terrorists off Facebook,’ Mr Grewal told Judge Garaufis. ‘We’re not simply relying on a legal argument to avoid responsibility.’

A ‘clean slate’

Judge Garaufis appeared placated by Facebook and Kirkland’s five-strong apology, and also apologised for losing his temper with their junior colleague earlier this week. ‘It was totally unfounded, and for that I apologise,’ he told the group. ‘I just wanted the firm to take this seriously.’ Insisting that he remains a ‘clean slate’ in the cases before him, Judge Garaufis has scheduled a hearing for 19 January to determine whether he should dismiss the lawsuits against Facebook.

Sources: BigLaw Business; New York Post