Attorneys on both sides of the dispute over a gay lawyer's scuttled lateral move each summed up the crux of the case in three words during closing arguments Monday.

For Michael Bowman, who represented Jeffrey Downs in Downs v. Anapol Schwartz, his client's case came down to “trust, distortion and betrayal.”

Bowman pointed to a conversation that Downs had with Anapol Schwartz shareholder Thomas R. Anapol as the root of the distortion that eventually led Downs to lose out on a lateral move to Raynes McCarty.