Jim Cushing's guest appearances

Jim Cushing

Law & Business

LeBron James

Michelle Carter

Paul Lukas

Mark Schaefer

Jim Frawley

J. Thorn

Raj Goel

Amy Birks

Anthony Verna

Connie Steele

Shad Ewart

John Eastwood

Ed Heerey

John Rubinstein

Sarah DeGeorge

OwlTail

In this episode of the "Law &amp; Business" podcast, Jim Cushing and Anthony Verna talk about judges.  In a recent video blog post, Anthony Verna talked about one judge helping to settle one trademark and copyright infringement lawsuit.Sometimes, judges are able (under the rules of procedure of their court) to aid the parties in litigation to settle their lawsuits.  Jim Cushing and Anthony Verna talk about some of the cases both have had in which judges have helped and have hurt in trying to settle cases.  It is a little comparing and contrasting between family law (custody issues) and intellectual property issues and the different kinds of procedure and judges the two lawyers have experienced.Here is a lightly-edited transcript of the podcast episode: Anthony Verna: All right, welcome back to the Law and Business podcast and welcome back, Jim Cushing. How are you doing, sir?   Jim Cushing: How ya doing, Anthony? Thanks for having me back, it’s been a while.   Anthony Verna:  Hey, I know it's been a while, but the podcast is a little intermittent than I would like. So, thank you so much for being back. Recently I had an appearance in federal court in the beautiful city of Binghamton, New York, where they're so used to intellectual property lawsuits. To the point that the magistrate judge was asking me about, about a provision in the Lanham Act that is little used and the look of shock and horror on his face was something I don't think I've ever seen before.   Jim Cushing: It’s never  good when you're teaching the judge the law.  Anthony Verna: That's true. But I think that happens a little more for me than for you, which led to this magistrate saying, okay, this is a trademark and copyright infringement case. It's something that he was fully admitting that he was not used to, but that there two magistrates in the Northern District of New York that have intellectual property expertise and experience and wondering if the parties would want to have one of those magistrates hold a settlement conference. Andin this particular case, my client was all for it because we're dealing with a pro se litigants. So, a litigant who's representing himself. Right. And as I'm sure you're aware a pro se litigant can be a little on the extreme side.   Jim Cushing:  Well, you know, they go into it thinking this is going to be my day in court and I'm going to go all the way and they don't really understand the process or where they've got a weakness.   Anthony Verna:  Exactly. So, I think this was a smart time that, um, that a judge is forcing us into settlement. And, of course, since then, I think the litigant has realized that yes, he's not going to be going all the way and he's not going to be really getting his day in court. And so, he's actually sent me a couple different settlement options since then. So have there been times when a judge has forced you, someone who's in family law into settlements that you think are good and help the case rather than dealing with litigation?   Jim Cushing:   I think that as I said, I'm a family attorney or you said I'm a family attorney and I think family is kind of unique in the legal field because it really, a lot of the times the object of a family case is someone who's not even in court, you know, your son or your daughter or whomever and obviously not in divorce, but in the custody or support context, sure. Is you're dealing with somebody who's not present, who's the object to the case. It's not just money or like, no offense to your practice, but like a copyright. It's like a real human being whose life is going to be affected. And when it comes down to it, we're trying to do what's best for that person and sometimes what's best for that person, it's not necessarily some legal one-upsmanship.    It's just a practical consideration. And you know, when you have a decent judge, they look at this and they see the legal arguments from both sides, but they're also, if they're worth their salt,

In this episode of the "Law &amp; Business" podcast, Jim Cushing and Anthony Verna talk about judges.  In a recent video blog post, Anthony Verna talked about one judge helping to settle one trademark and copyright infringement lawsuit.<br>Sometimes, judges are able (under the rules of procedure of their court) to aid the parties in litigation to settle their lawsuits.  Jim Cushing and Anthony Verna talk about some of the cases both have had in which judges have helped and have hurt in trying to settle cases.  It is a little comparing and contrasting between family law (custody issues) and intellectual property issues and the different kinds of procedure and judges the two lawyers have experienced.<br>Here is a lightly-edited transcript of the podcast episode: Anthony Verna: All right, welcome back to the Law and Business podcast and welcome back, Jim Cushing. How are you doing, sir?   Jim Cushing: How ya doing, Anthony? Thanks for having me back, it’s been a while.   Anthony Verna:  Hey, I know it's been a while, but the podcast is a little intermittent than I would like. So, thank you so much for being back. Recently I had an appearance in federal court in the beautiful city of Binghamton, New York, where they're so used to intellectual property lawsuits. To the point that the magistrate judge was asking me about, about a provision in the Lanham Act that is little used and the look of shock and horror on his face was something I don't think I've ever seen before.   Jim Cushing: It’s never  good when you're teaching the judge the law.  Anthony Verna: That's true. But I think that happens a little more for me than for you, which led to this magistrate saying, okay, this is a trademark and copyright infringement case. It's something that he was fully admitting that he was not used to, but that there two magistrates in the Northern District of New York that have intellectual property expertise and experience and wondering if the parties would want to have one of those magistrates hold a settlement conference. Andin this particular case, my client was all for it because we're dealing with a pro se litigants. So, a litigant who's representing himself. Right. And as I'm sure you're aware a pro se litigant can be a little on the extreme side.   Jim Cushing:  Well, you know, they go into it thinking this is going to be my day in court and I'm going to go all the way and they don't really understand the process or where they've got a weakness.   Anthony Verna:  Exactly. So, I think this was a smart time that, um, that a judge is forcing us into settlement. And, of course, since then, I think the litigant has realized that yes, he's not going to be going all the way and he's not going to be really getting his day in court. And so, he's actually sent me a couple different settlement options since then. So have there been times when a judge has forced you, someone who's in family law into settlements that you think are good and help the case rather than dealing with litigation?   Jim Cushing:   I think that as I said, I'm a family attorney or you said I'm a family attorney and I think family is kind of unique in the legal field because it really, a lot of the times the object of a family case is someone who's not even in court, you know, your son or your daughter or whomever and obviously not in divorce, but in the custody or support context, sure. Is you're dealing with somebody who's not present, who's the object to the case. It's not just money or like, no offense to your practice, but like a copyright. It's like a real human being whose life is going to be affected. And when it comes down to it, we're trying to do what's best for that person and sometimes what's best for that person, it's not necessarily some legal one-upsmanship.    It's just a practical consideration. And you know, when you have a decent judge, they look at this and they see the legal arguments from both sides, but they're also, if they're worth their salt,

Law & Business Podcast Episode 42:  Jim Cushing and Anthony Verna talk about judges helping settling cases.