Maxell, Ltd. v. Apple Inc.

Attorney Justin Park worked at Mayer Brown, where he represented Maxell, Ltd. (plaintiff) in a lawsuit against Apple, Inc. (defendant). Park then left Mayer Brown and joined DLA Piper (DLA), ending his representation of Maxell. Before Park left, his assistant emailed him files for other clients he would still represent at DLA. At that time, DLA was not involved in the Maxell-Apple lawsuit. Six months later, Apple hired DLA for the lawsuit. During a conversation with a DLA attorney on the Apple matter, Park mentioned that the Mayer Brown attorneys representing Maxell were good lawyers. Park said nothing else about Maxell. Mayer Brown attorney Jamie Beaber called Park to ask about Park’s conflict of interest. Park assured Beaber that he had not disclosed any of Maxell’s confidential information and agreed to implement an ethical wall. This wall would block any communications between Park and DLA’s Apple team regarding Maxell or the lawsuit. DLA set up the wall, and Park notified Beaber via text. DLA then formally appeared for Apple in the lawsuit. Maxell complained, arguing that Park’s prior Maxell work disqualified him from representing Apple and that this disqualification was imputed to all 4,000 DLA attorneys. The firms exchanged multiple communications on the issue. Two months after DLA began representing Apple, it sent Mayer Brown a letter detailing its ethical-wall measures and confirming that Park had not shared any of Maxell’s confidential information. Mayer Brown still complained, so Park searched his emails for any mention of Maxell to confirm he had not shared information. The search revealed that Park’s former assistant had inadvertently emailed some confidential Maxell documents to him inside another client’s files. Park immediately forwarded the documents to DLA’s general counsel and deleted his copies. DLA’s technology department confirmed that no one else at the firm had accessed the emails. DLA notified Mayer Brown of the discovery and the tech department’s findings. At that point, trial was only weeks away. Mayer Brown moved to disqualify DLA, arguing that it had not received timely written notice of the wall and that the belated discovery of confidential documents undermined trust in the wall’s effectiveness. In response, DLA submitted affidavits from all attorneys and paralegals on the Apple team confirming they had received no Maxell information from Park. The court considered the motion.