Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher won motions in December to quash a subpoena of interview notes and metadata originating from its investigation of New Jersey's Bridgegate scandal, but came in for some scathing criticism from the judge on the case.

Gibson Dunn's motion to quash the subpoena by Bridgegate defendants William Baroni and Bridget Kelly—which sought the firm's interview notes, transcripts and recordings from its internal investigation of the case—was granted because there was no evidence that additional materials responsive to the request exist. The firm's motion to quash the defendants' subpoena of metadata related to the investigation was also granted, based on a finding that the information is available from other sources.

But U.S. District Judge Susan Wigenton in Newark criticized the firm's departure from typical procedures for internal investigations in contemporaneously summarizing 75 interviews conducted as part of its investigation. The firm said that each interview was summarized electronically by an attorney while the interview was underway, then edited into a final version, to ensure that no interview notes would be preserved, she said. The unorthodox procedure was adopted in the wake of a legislative investigation of Bridgegate and strong media interest.