Day Casebeer Survives Qualcomm, But Two Sanctioned Associates Leave
Five lawyers at Day Casebeer Madrid & Batchelder were sanctioned for failing to turn over documents for its client Qualcomm in a discovery dispute, but only two have left the firm.
Despite the well-publicized dispute, the patent litigation firm continues to stay “incredibly busy,” the firm’s managing partner, Lloyd “Rusty” Day, told the Recorder (sub. req.). The sanctions have since been vacated to give the lawyers a chance to testify about privileged client communications.
Day replaced name partner Craig Casebeer as managing partner after Casebeer carried through with plans to retire in December. Also leaving the firm were sanctioned associates Adam Bier and Kevin Leung, the story says.
Leung is consulting with lawyers and biotech startups on patent-related matters and is looking for in-house work, his laywer Joel Zeldin told the Recorder. “This whole Qualcomm thing was a tremendous bump in the road and caused him to reevaluate things,” Zeldin said. Bier is doing volunteer work, but he told the Recorder he didn’t leave Day Casebeer because of Qualcomm.
The three sanctioned partners remain at Day Casebeer, although one of them, Lee Patch, is now a senior counsel rather than a partner.
Day Casebeer was formed 10 years ago with five lawyers who jumped from Cooley Godward. Day told the publication that the Qualcomm dispute has “had a sobering effect on our firm” but “we’ve confronted it very responsibly.”
