Our first runner-up this week is a team at Baker Botts that won what appears to be the longest-running hybrid civil trial of the COVID-19 era for off-shore drilling equipment maker Dril-Quip Inc. Rival FMC Technologies Inc. alleged that a former employee conspired with Dril-Quip to steal trade secrets to develop its VXTe subsea tree system. FMC was asking for $35 million in actual damages, $70 million in exemplary damages and injunctive relief. After jury selection conducted in a 10,000-seat arena and three weeks of in-person testimony in a ceremonial courtroom with some witnesses appearing via Zoom, a Houston jury found last week the FMC didn't own the trade secrets at issue in the case. Dril-Quip's trial team was led by Baker Botts partners Danny David, Paul Morico and Liz Flannery.

Bryan Aylstock of Aylstock, Witkin, Kreis & Overholtz, also gets a runner-up nod this week for landing a $7.1 million verdict as lead counsel in the first bellwether trial for three plaintiffs in the 3M earplug multidistrict litigation. After a day of deliberations, a Pensacola, Florida jury found last week that 3M was 100% at fault and granted none of the company's affirmative defenses. The second bellwether trial is set to begin on May 17.

Also landing runners-up honors is the team at Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan led by partners Andrew Rossman, Silpa Maruri and Sascha Rand who got a ruling on Friday from the Delaware Chancery Court ordering Kohlberg & Co. to complete its purchase of DecoPac Inc., a Minnesota company that sells cake decorations and technology for use in grocery store bakeries. The decision is a win for Quinn clients DecoPac and private equity seller Snow Phipps. As we noted in Tuesday's column, Rossman previously landed "Litigator of the Week" honors last year working the buyer side of a busted-deal suit in Delaware alongside partners Michael Carlinsky and John Rhie by winning a ruling allowing their client Mirae Asset to walk away from a $5.8 billion deal to buy 15 luxury hotels in the U.S.