Delaware Bar Civility

If there was one thing they didn't let us forget during the bar review, clerkship, and ethics training programs in this state, it's that the Delaware bar is small and has a reputation for civility. The inside joke became, "Did you read the QVC case?" We could have crafted a drinking game around the mention of the decision. Here is an overview of QVC's facts:

April 19 -- From the incivility frontier. Richard F. Ziegler, writing in the Feb. 7 National Law Journal: "Until recently, the classic example of incivility in litigation was famed Texas lawyer Joe Jamail's defense of a deposition witness in the 1993 Paramount-QVC Network-Viacom takeover battle. According to the excerpts of the deposition transcript included in an addendum to an opinion by the Delaware Supreme Court, Jamail told the examining lawyer that he could 'gag a maggot off a meat wagon' and made other vituperative remarks that the Delaware court labeled 'extraordinarily rude, uncivil and vulgar.' "

There is always someone who forgets to read the QVC case. Just recently, another lawyer in Delaware was sanctioned for, in his brief, comparing the counterparty (a board of directors) to "apes" and a "group of monkeys", as well as making other editorial comments on their integrity and business acumen. For more on this, including a link to the short decision, click here.

If the sanctioned attorney needs a copy of the QVC case, I think I have several copies still floating around in my basement...