{"id":135993,"date":"2025-10-28T15:44:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-28T23:44:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2025\/10\/28\/sdny-judge-tells-biglaw-lawyers-costumes-optional-for-friday-hearing\/"},"modified":"2025-10-28T15:44:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-28T23:44:07","slug":"sdny-judge-tells-biglaw-lawyers-costumes-optional-for-friday-hearing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2025\/10\/28\/sdny-judge-tells-biglaw-lawyers-costumes-optional-for-friday-hearing\/","title":{"rendered":"SDNY Judge Tells Biglaw Lawyers \u2018Costumes Optional\u2019 For Friday Hearing"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Friday morning, lawyers from Weil Gotshal and Steptoe, facing off in WarnerMedia Network Sales v. DISH Network L.L.C.<\/em>, will convene at the Southern District of New York courthouse for a morning meeting with Judge Arun Subramanian. It\u2019s your standard, sign-of-our-times media feud: Warner has a deal allowing DISH to air Warner programming, but DISH packaged some of that content so it could be purchased on a day-to-day or week-to-week basis through SlingTV and Warner isn\u2019t happy about it. It\u2019s a \u201ccan the roommate keep using the Netflix account we got for the house?\u201d situation ramped up to corporate boardroom level.<\/p>\n

A Friday hearing is pretty normal. But Friday is Halloween, so the judge has one special trick for the parties.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n

‘Costumes optional’ for this Friday hearing in Manhattan before US District Judge Arun Subramanian<\/p>\n

\u2014 Mike Scarcella (@mikescarcella.bsky.social)<\/a> 2025-10-27T15:50:24.798Z<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Here\u2019s the thing about the words \u201cCostumes optional.\u201d It may seem \u201coptional,\u201d but that reads a whole lot like a dare. Do you want to show up in business attire when the other side agreed to the judge\u2019s whimsical invitation? Is there some junior associate at Weil billing .3 to \u201cTrip to Spirit Halloween\u201d for a David S. Pumpkins suit right now?<\/p>\n

The odds are probably right around the same as an appearance of the Great Pumpkin. That said, if any litigation could bring out a little lawyer cosplay, it would be one involving media companies. We reached out to both Weil and Steptoe to ask if they had any reaction to the order, but have not heard back. We will update if either decides on a costume. <\/p>\n

[UPDATE<\/strong>: Steptoe has responded:<\/p>\n

\n

It\u2019s a \u201ctreat\u201d that the court has opened the door to costumes.\u00a0 The Steptoe team will be coming as superheroes (the ones who don\u2019t wear capes).<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Somehow I don\u2019t think they mean the Incredibles<\/em>, who famously do not wear capes.]<\/p>\n

To demonstrate the parties\u2019 good faith negotiation powers, maybe the lead attorneys could coordinate and arrive in a Vincent Gambini maroon tuxedo and an Elle Woods pink Jackie Kennedy outfit? Unfortunately, My Cousin Vinny is a 20th Century Fox production and it might be more gauche than the tuxedo for Warner\u2019s attorney to show up as a rival studio\u2019s character. <\/p>\n

If either side takes the judge up on the offer, be sure to enter the ATL Halloween contest<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n

\"Headshot\"Joe Patrice<\/a>\u00a0is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer<\/a>. Feel free to\u00a0email<\/a> any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on\u00a0Twitter<\/a>\u00a0or Bluesky<\/a> if you\u2019re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The post SDNY Judge Tells Biglaw Lawyers \u2018Costumes Optional\u2019 For Friday Hearing<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n

On Friday morning, lawyers from Weil Gotshal and Steptoe, facing off in WarnerMedia Network Sales v. DISH Network L.L.C.<\/em>, will convene at the Southern District of New York courthouse for a morning meeting with Judge Arun Subramanian. It\u2019s your standard, sign-of-our-times media feud: Warner has a deal allowing DISH to air Warner programming, but DISH packaged some of that content so it could be purchased on a day-to-day or week-to-week basis through SlingTV and Warner isn\u2019t happy about it. It\u2019s a \u201ccan the roommate keep using the Netflix account we got for the house?\u201d situation ramped up to corporate boardroom level.<\/p>\n

A Friday hearing is pretty normal. But Friday is Halloween, so the judge has one special trick for the parties.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n

‘Costumes optional’ for this Friday hearing in Manhattan before US District Judge Arun Subramanian<\/p>\n

\u2014 Mike Scarcella (@mikescarcella.bsky.social)<\/a> 2025-10-27T15:50:24.798Z<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Here\u2019s the thing about the words \u201cCostumes optional.\u201d It may seem \u201coptional,\u201d but that reads a whole lot like a dare. Do you want to show up in business attire when the other side agreed to the judge\u2019s whimsical invitation? Is there some junior associate at Weil billing .3 to \u201cTrip to Spirit Halloween\u201d for a David S. Pumpkins suit right now?<\/p>\n

The odds are probably right around the same as an appearance of the Great Pumpkin. That said, if any litigation could bring out a little lawyer cosplay, it would be one involving media companies. We reached out to both Weil and Steptoe to ask if they had any reaction to the order, but have not heard back. We will update if either decides on a costume. <\/p>\n

[UPDATE<\/strong>: Steptoe has responded:<\/p>\n

\n

It\u2019s a \u201ctreat\u201d that the court has opened the door to costumes.\u00a0 The Steptoe team will be coming as superheroes (the ones who don\u2019t wear capes).<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Somehow I don\u2019t think they mean the Incredibles<\/em>, who famously do not wear capes.]<\/p>\n

To demonstrate the parties\u2019 good faith negotiation powers, maybe the lead attorneys could coordinate and arrive in a Vincent Gambini maroon tuxedo and an Elle Woods pink Jackie Kennedy outfit? Unfortunately, My Cousin Vinny is a 20th Century Fox production and it might be more gauche than the tuxedo for Warner\u2019s attorney to show up as a rival studio\u2019s character. <\/p>\n

If either side takes the judge up on the offer, be sure to enter the ATL Halloween contest<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n

\"Headshot\"Joe Patrice<\/a>\u00a0is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer<\/a>. Feel free to\u00a0email<\/a> any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on\u00a0Twitter<\/a>\u00a0or Bluesky<\/a> if you\u2019re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The post SDNY Judge Tells Biglaw Lawyers \u2018Costumes Optional\u2019 For Friday Hearing<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On Friday morning, lawyers from Weil Gotshal and Steptoe, facing off in WarnerMedia Network Sales v. DISH Network L.L.C., will convene at the Southern District of New York courthouse for a morning meeting with Judge Arun Subramanian. It\u2019s your standard, sign-of-our-times media feud: Warner has a deal allowing DISH to air Warner programming, but DISH […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":135994,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-135993","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-above_the_law"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xira.com\/p\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Headshot-300x200-U4Tb6w.jpg?fit=300%2C200&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135993","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=135993"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135993\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/135994"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=135993"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=135993"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=135993"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}