This is big. In the much discussed Qualcomm matter, where the federal court referred six lawyers (including two second-year associates) to the state bar for possible discipline, it now appears that the outside lawyers will blame the client for misleading the lawyers. Some observers (myself included) have expected that defense to be raised -- and I eagerly await the court's ruling on it.
I will post more analysis as it become known but for now want to mention one angle: the "disaggregation" of larger legal representations. Increasingly, we are seeing corporate clients break up the legal representation into functional pieces and then farm out the functions to various providers, including lawyers. To some degree this is old news. And is certainly makes economic sense, given the costs of high-end legal services. But in this era of electronic discovery and outsourcing, the dangers for the client and outside counsel have increased. I had predicted that Qualcomm might usher in an era of increased danger for in-house counsel who manage large litigations. Perhaps at the Qualcomm hearing, set for January 2010, we will get some answers.