http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-21638825

It was fcuking ludicrous to start with, but that's more to do with the insane system that spawned it.

I did see a story this week that the judge from the UK case (the one who ordered Apple to make a formal public apology and it all got very childish on Apple's part, if you remember) is now working for Samsung. I don't think there was anything iffy about the verdict - personally I thought it was quite appropriate and utterly hilarious - but don't judges realise how it looks bad if they go and work for companies who they gave judgements in favour of in the recent past?

In this case though, I don't think the initial amount or this is going to matter to either company, it's a drop in the bucket of their finances either way. It's a case of people in the legal system being sniffy about details - but then that's what the legal system is all about I suppose. The one bit I'm not entirely happy about is the aspect of 'The judgement was wrong because the jury didn't do what the judge told them to'. if juries are just supposed to do whatever the presiding judge tells them to with no mind of their own, what's the point of having juries in these kinds of cases at all?

I saw that too; gets away with it since he's applying his expertise outside the UK IIRC?

The only document that matters is The Guide To Judicial Independence which states



It doesn't mention any future contact, although it probably does mean that judge won't be able to sit on any case involving Samsung for a couple of years after he finishes working for them.

However it does also say



You could certainly question 'the appearance of propriety' given the period between the two events is quite short.

It would of course be best if sitting judges were required to take no external work while sitting but given the amount of money they would be passing up to do so - any lawyer who has made judge would be able to commend very high fees indeed - would mean the only judges we'd get would be retired old duffers. Oh no, hold on...