Law, disrupted

John is joined by Bill Price, the founder and co-chair of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan's National Trial Practice Group and a partner in the firm’s Los Angeles office. Bill could lay claim (though he never would, being very modest) to be possibly the greatest business jury trial lawyer of his generation. He has tried over 50 cases to verdict and lost only two of them. Representing plaintiffs, he has won five 9-figure verdicts, as well as one ten-figure verdict. He has obtained equally remarkable results representing defendants. He is a master of all aspects of trial practice but is best known as a brilliant cross-examiner. This episode, therefore, focuses on the art of cross-examination. Podcast Link: Law-disrupted.fmHost: John B. Quinn Producer: Alexis HydeMusic and Editing by: Alexander Rossi

John is joined by Susheel Kirpalani, partner in Quinn Emanuel’s New York office and founder and Chairperson of the firm’s Bankruptcy and Restructuring Group. They discuss restructuring litigation, including fraudulent transfer litigation and valuation disputes, and how it differs from commercial litigation.  They also discuss the importance of building alliances with other stakeholders in the company, how much the practice is based on relationships and trust, and the opportunities that exist to design creative securities that allow a company to survive but also allow its creditors substantial recoveries. Podcast Link: Law-disrupted.fmHost: John B. Quinn Producer: Alexis HydeMusic and Editing by: Alexander Rossi

John is joined by Pablo Arredondo, the Co-Founder & Chief Innovation Officer of Casetext CoCounsel. They discuss how Casetext’s AI tools, based on large language models such as those employed by GPT-4, can be used by litigators to quickly review enormous databases using natural language, full sentence searches and identify relevant evidence even when the words used in the evidence are completely different from the words used in the search. They also discuss how this technology can assist in deposition preparation and expert cross-examination as well as likely applications for transactional legal work.Podcast Link: Law-disrupted.fmHost: John B. Quinn Producer: Alexis HydeMusic and Editing by: Alexander Rossi

John Quinn is joined by Daniel Posner, a partner in Quinn Emanuel’s Los Angeles office, and Asher B. Griffin, Co-Managing Partner of Quinn Emanuel’s Austin, Texas office. They discuss how Dan and Asher’s Quinn Emanuel team was brought in to retry the damages award in a race discrimination case against Tesla and reduced the $136.9 million verdict another firm gave up in the first trial to only $175,000 in compensatory damages and $3 million in punitive damages.  They discuss the unique challenges of a retrial on damages only, including how the jury in the retrial was instructed that Tesla was liable for both compensatory and punitive damages, how the judge limited the parties in the retrial to the documents and witnesses presented at the first trial and how they were still able to use the latitude allowed in cross-examination to challenge the credibility of each instance of alleged discrimination and achieve this outstanding result.Podcast Link: Law-disrupted.fmHost: John B. Quinn Producer: Alexis HydeMusic and Editing by: Alexander Rossi

John is joined by Darius J. Khambata, SC, a barrister in the Mumbai office of One Essex Court.  They discuss the civil justice system in India, including the absence of a standing requirement to bring public interest litigation, the burden on the judiciary of handling millions of cases, and the emphasis on oral argument rather than written submissions.  They also discuss how, for many cases, the decision on interim relief is effectively determinative, how arbitration is becoming increasingly prevalent, and the prospect that technology and a new influx of highly skilled young lawyers may dramatically improve the efficiency of the Indian civil justice system. Podcast Link: Law-disrupted.fmHost: John B. Quinn Producer: Alexis HydeMusic and Editing by: Alexander Rossi

John is joined by Dan Rabinowitz, founder and CEO of Pre/Dicta Litigation Prediction Software.  They discuss how, given only a case number, Pre/Dicta uses data points, already in its database, such as the gender, location, political affiliation, ethnicity, education, and the work experience of judges, parties, and lawyers to accurately predict the outcome of motions to dismiss 85% of the time. This prediction is made without knowing the nature of the case, the claims or the legal arguments. They also discuss the potential applications of this technology to litigation, including assessing the best forum to bring claims and understanding the impact of litigation events on publicly traded companies.Podcast Link: Law-disrupted.fmHost: John B. Quinn Producer: Alexis HydeMusic and Editing by: Alexander Rossi

John is joined by Robert M. (“Bobby”) Schwartz, a partner in Quinn Emanuel’s Los Angeles office and Andrew Brayton, an associate in that office.  They discuss how Bobby and Andrew won a settlement on behalf of the State of California against Polymer 80, the largest manufacturer and distributor of ghost guns, in which Polymer agreed to a permanent injunction barring it from selling ghost guns in California and to pay $5 million in penalties.  They also discuss their legal strategies, the discovery process, and the importance of the case in terms of protecting both law enforcement officers and the public.Podcast Link: Law-disrupted.fmHost: John B. Quinn Producer: Alexis HydeMusic and Editing by: Alexander Rossi

John is joined by C. Dabney O'Riordan, partner in Quinn Emanuel’s Los Angeles and DC offices and longest-serving leader of the SEC's Asset Management Unit, who left the agency last year.  They discuss the actions an asset manager can take if it identifies a potential issue to minimize its risk of an SEC investigation or enforcement action.  Among the actions they discuss for consideration include stopping the conduct and implementing remedial measures such as updating internal policies and procedures, providing additional training to staff, considering hiring a compliance consultant, and making remedial payments if appropriate.Podcast Link: Law-disrupted.fmHost: John B. Quinn Producer: Alexis HydeMusic and Editing by: Alexander Rossi

John is joined by Chelsea Murtha, the Director of Sustainability at the American Apparel & Footwear Association; Jessica K. Ferrell, a partner at Marten Law LLP; and Joseph Paunovich, a partner in Quinn Emanuel’s Los Angeles and Salt Lake City offices.  They discuss the legal challenges surrounding PFOS chemicals, also known as forever chemicals, including the impact of federal and state regulations, the history of PFOS litigation, and the difficulties of proving harm from their use in consumer products. They also discuss the need for companies to be proactive in managing these chemicals and claims,  engage with policymakers, and ensure bulletproof marketing.Podcast Link: Law-disrupted.fmHost: John B. Quinn Producer: Alexis HydeMusic and Editing by: Alexander Rossi

John is joined by Aidan O'Rourke, a partner in Quinn Emanuel’s London Office.  John and Aidan discuss how, after a five week in London Commercial Court, Aidan won a €1.5 billion judgment against Argentina on behalf of a large group of holders of sovereign bonds.  They discuss the background of the case, the trial itself and how the team adjusted to an entirely new theory of the case that Argentina advanced shortly before the trial started.Podcast Link: Law-disrupted.fmHost: John B. Quinn Producer: Alexis HydeMusic and Editing by: Alexander Rossi