March 13, 2003

Two of the nation's top lawyers could make their final pitch to jurors as early as this afternoon in the civil lawsuit over the safety of Bayer's cholesterol drug, Baycol.

Closing arguments are expected today in the civil suit. The company voluntarily removed Baycol from the market in August 2001, but not before the drug caused local resident Hollis Haltom's rhabdomyolysis, or muscle deterioration, his lawyers say. Attorneys for Haltom claim the company put profits ahead of patients when developing the drug.

For the past few weeks, both Mikal Watts and Philip Beck argued the validity of that before jurors. What the jury and courtroom spectators got was a prizefight between two heavyweights with different backgrounds and approaches to lawyering.

The National Law Journal gives insight into the reputations Beck and Watts bring to the courtroom. In 2002, the publication picked Watts, 35, as one of the top 40 lawyers under 40 years old. The year before that, Beck was listed as a runner-up, along with former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, as Lawyer of the Year.

High profile cases

At 51, Beck has already been attached to some high-profile cases in recent years.

Beck's law partner Fred Bartlit requested the Chicago native during the legal wrangling that followed the 2000 presidential election.

"I was the guy who said after a day or so, 'We got to get Phil down here. He's perfect for this.'" Bartlit said. "He's a great cross-examiner, except the image of the great cross-examiner is always mean and arrogant. He's not. He's a nice guy. He did the cross-examination of the (Vice President Al) Gore experts and killed them."

Following that case, Beck went on the represent the U.S. government in its antitrust case against Microsoft.

Beck said the key to cross-examining witnesses, especially in technical or scientific cases, is preparation. Demeanor helps, too.

"I want to be respectful and I also have a little fun when I'm up there," Beck said. "And occasionally you feel like you need to be firm with a witness especially if it's a paid expert."

In most trials, an attorney will aggressively grill the other side's star witness. That didn't happen in this case because Watts' main witness is a high-ranking official with Bayer, Beck's client. Lawrence Posner, head of Bayer's worldwide regulatory affairs, was a company witness provided to the plaintiffs under subpoena.

Relied on evidence

Instead, Beck relied on evidence - mostly Bayer documents - that Watts submitted earlier in the trial. Where Watts would have focused on one paragraph from a particular e-mail, Beck zeroed in on another. Before he did that, Beck often reminded jurors that he was going to question Posner over something about which Watts had already questioned Posner.

"I know you went over this with Mr. Watts" Beck would repeatedly begin, maintaining a level of decorum that matches the dark-colored business suits he normally wears in court.

For Beck, the desire to become an attorney was bornin the late 1950s and early 1960s while watching episodes of "Perry Mason."

"When I was a little kid, that's all I thought lawyers did was try murder cases like Perry Mason did every week," he said. "I knew I wanted to be in court. I didn't find out until a lot later that there's a difference between what Perry Mason does and what most lawyers do."

With that in mind, Beck received his law degree in 1976 when he graduated magna cum laude from Boston University.

Since 1993, both Bartlit and Beck have amassed an impressive trial record. According to their Web site, their law firm had three losses out of 42 cases since 1994. Five of those were settlements.

Taking notes

As Beck questioned Posner, Watts had his head down, scribbling notes and planning his response to Beck's questioning. When it came time to question Posner again, Watts used an analogy to try to prove Bayer was minimizing Baycol's link to rhabdomyolysis.

"It was mainly to use an analogy to show that a marketing sales guy had dictated the content of what a scientific study would be," Watts said.

Watts wanted to show that a claim that Baycol was 26 times more likely to cause rhabdomyolysis had been watered down in a study.

He said the end result was that Baycol was described as being "clinically more likely" to cause rhabdomyolysis.

"I was trying to show that the Pacific Ocean's got a hell of a lot more water than this cup," he said.

That cup belonged to one of the defense attorneys. When referring to it, Watts would repeatedly walk over to the table where Beck and the other defense attorneys sat, picked up the cup and held it high enough for the jury to see it.

Considerably taller and with a voice clearer than Beck's, Watts comes across as being informal with jurors.

"I think that he has the ability to talk with people as opposed to talking to them," said local attorney David Perry, who Watts sees as a mentor.

Also high-profile

Perry is no stranger to high profile lawsuits. In 1983, he successfully sued Ford Motor Co. on behalf of the estate and family of a woman killed when her Ford Mustang II caught fire during a rear-impact collision.

A jury awarded Perry's clients $106.8 million in damages.

A native of Corpus Christi, Watts joined Perry's law firm shortly after graduating from the University of Texas law school at 21, younger than most students when they earn their undergraduate degrees.

Working for Perry was somewhat of a dream of Watts', whose parents were also attorneys.

"I've wanted to work with him since I was 16 years old," he said, recalling Perry's 1983 landmark case.

During the trial, Watts' mother, state District Judge Sandra Watts, observed her son in the courtroom.

As her son argued about an issue before County Court-at-Law No. 4 Judge James Klager, Sandra Watts looked at her son from the back of the courtroom and knew he was angry by looking at his facial expression.

Going into the trial, both men knew of each other's accomplishments.

When Watts knew Beck was representing Bayer in the Baycol case, he saw it as a test.

Feather in cap

"I think it is always challenging to try a case against one of the best defense lawyers in the country," Watts said. "It's certainly a feather in one's cap to beat him."

"I had heard of Mikal Watts," Beck said. "He's a very well known and highly regarded plaintiffs' lawyer. I had heard of him and read about him."

But the accolades and reputations the two have earned won't matter today because it all comes down to skill.

How well they sum up the evidence might determine the outcome of more than 7,800 similar cases pending across the country.

Neither of them have any good luck rituals they plan to use before today's closing arguments.

"I had a lucky tie for about the first 15 years that I was practicing law," Beck said. "Then it got eaten at the cleaners."

In the days leading up to trial, Watts adjusts his internal body clock by getting up at 4:30 a.m. and working until 10:30 p.m.

It works fine, he said, but only for so long.

"It's a little difficult right now because I've been doing it for about a month," Watts said. "I'm kind of tired."

Closing arguments are scheduled to take place in the fifth floor courtroom of the Nueces County Courthouse.