Judge William Alsup packs a heavy gavel. This guy is never late for work, arriving at 5:30 a.m. at the latest, he runs up and down the 20-floor federal building to get the blood flowing, and if you so much as cough — watch out!
Alsup, appointed by President Clinton in 1999, after working as a clerk for Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas and as an Assistant Solicitor General at the DOJ, is now overseeing Oracle v. Google. Not that its pleasant.
As Legal Pad said:
[P]ity the lawyer with a tickle in his throat. During voir dire, someone at the Google table started coughing. “Who is hacking and coughing?” Alsup demanded.
He offered a lozenge, which Robert Van Nest, big-shot litigator at Keker & Van Nest, picked up and handed to someone at his table.
Alsup was back on message Tuesday. “I have a strong view,” that when a lawyer is speaking, they have the “absolute right for full attention” without “hacking or coughing or paper shuffling.”
“I don’t even like it when people get up and back and forth out that door,” he scolded, inspiring one observer to escape. Alsup later complained when somebody was typing too loudly.