Businesses should remember the importance of a good lawyer

Thomas Turvey, Google's director of strategic partnerships, recently learned the hard way that it is important for businesses to hire the best lawyers.

Turvey was in federal court in Manhattan this week as a witness in the Justice Department's (DOJ) price-fixing case against Apple. According to a report in The Verge, the DOJ alleges that Apple conspired with top book publishers to raise the prices of ebooks, thus limiting the ability of retailers like Amazon to sell them at steep discounts. Though Google has not yet begun to play a major role in the ebook market, court observers believe the DOJ called representatives from the company to the stand to help boost the case against its major rival.

However, as the news source revealed, Turvey had no sooner taken the stand than Apple's lead attorney Orin Snyder began to tear apart his testimony.

Turvey originally claimed that representatives from the publishers had contacted him directly about Apple's efforts.

"Under Snyder's questioning, Turvey acknowledged that he couldn't remember a single name of any of the publishing executives who had told him Apple was the reason the publishers were switching their business model," the news source reported. "He conceded that the publisher's move to the agency system was important to Google's own business, yet Turvey couldn't remember any details about the conversations with publishers." 

When his cross-examination ended, Turvey would only commit to saying that publishers may have delivered the message to someone on his team at Google.

As Snyder demonstrated, having a good lawyer can make or break a trial for any business. As this case continues, it's possible that the doubt Snyder created may benefit Apple's standing.

Local businesses who want the best legal counsel should consult with a Phoenix small business attorney.

Categorised in: Litigation

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