Speaking at the 17^th Annual Berkeley-Stanford Advanced Patent Law Institute: Silicon Valley, some of the leading patent judges in the United States urged attendees to make sure they regularly have ‘eyes and ears’ in the courtroom when enlisting the service of outside counsel for litigation. ‘I’m amazed that you all don’t show up with more regularity, especially when you’re looking at a summary judgement motion or have a Markman or some other significant proceeding where you have spent in all likelihood six figures in legal fees and costs to get that thing ready for me to decide,’ said Judge James Donato of the US District Court for the Northern District of California.

Ensuring quality and value

For Judge Donato, in-house lawyers making sure that they attend court proceedings is simply good consumer sense. ‘I don’t see how you can be good consumers of outside counsel work or good protectors of your clients’ money if you’re not watching your team in court,’ he said. ‘You would never go and buy a meal at a high-end restaurant and not consume it and wait for someone else to tell you the food was delicious.

Commitment and communication

Regularly attending court can help to minimise miscommunications between in-house lawyers, outside counsel and clients. In symbolic terms, the act of simply showing up can communicate a client’s commitment to the case at hand and assure a sense of transparency. Judge Beth Labson Freeman told attendees that she doesn’t require client representatives to be present in court, but is grateful when they show up: ‘I think as lawyers see I’m warm to it, they bring more,’ she explained. ‘[It] actually means a lot to me that this client is invested and aware of the activities going on in court and its not completely separate from what the company is doing.’

Full story originally published by Bloomberg BigLaw Business.

Details of the Annual Berkeley-Stanford Advanced Patent Law Institute: Silicon Valley can be found here.