EFTA00588667

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G3hdgium 
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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 
SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK 
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Plaintiff, 
New York, N.Y. 
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v. 
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GHISLAINE MAXWELL, 
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Defendant. 
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March 17, 2016 
2:18 p.m. 
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Before: 
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HON. ROBERT W. SWEET, 
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District Judge 
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APPEARANCES 
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Attorne s for Plaintiff 
BY: 
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HADDON MORGAN AND FOREMAN, P.C. 
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Attorneys for Defendant 
BY: JEFFREY PAGLIUCA 
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LAURA A. MENNINGER 
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SOUTHERN DISTRICT REPORTERS, P.C. 
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THE COURT: Thank you all very much. I'm sorry for 
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the inconvenience that I have imposed upon you. I'm sorry 
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about the inconvenience that you have imposed upon me. 
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But having said all of that, this really is the first 
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time that we've had an opportunity, I think, to get together on 
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this case. And let me just say, I think -- I mean, I'm not 
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sure but I think I understand the difficulties of this case. 
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There is an emotional element, obviously, throughout the case 
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on both sides, and I understand that. Fortunately, we're 
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blessed by excellent counsel and it would be nice if they can 
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avoid adopting the emotional flavor of their clients, and I 
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presume that they will be able to do that, it certainly will 
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help, because these issues are going to be difficult and I'm 
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well aware of it. 
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Now, at the outset, there is some discussion in these 
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papers about meet and confer. Let me make clear what I would 
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like from this day forward. On any discovery issues, I would 
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like to have a meet and confer. Now, I understand that defense 
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counsel are living in God's country and they're not cursed with 
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the metropolitan residence. I salute their good judgment in 
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that. And so I will say that I will not require you to meet in 
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person, but I will require you to meet. 
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And I would say this. If you have a meet and confer, 
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I would like to have correspondence between the parties as to 
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what the subject is so that there is an agreed agenda that's 
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written and we know that both sides know what it is, and that 
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will help me if, ultimately, the problem gets back to me. So I 
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would say exchange writing as to what it's going to be and have 
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a meeting. It doesn't have to be in person, but it certainly 
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has to be a significant meeting; it can't be just one 
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ten-minute telephone call. 
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So that's how I feel about the meet and confer. 
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Now, I'm not going to get into whether that's relevant 
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or not to the problems which we face today. That's just going 
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forward. As I say, I do hope that you all can -- it won't be 
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easy, but if you deal with these problems as the excellent 
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professionals that you are without the emotional implications, 
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having said that. 
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Now, how to go forward today? My thought is the 
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following. I have read your papers, and to say that I 
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understand the problems would be, I guess, a lie, but I'm 
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trying and you'll help me. I have a list of what I think our 
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issues are and I would like to go through this with you, and 
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then when I'm finished, if we have missed something, I'm sure 
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you will correct me. And I'd be pleased to hear if I determine 
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something, if you think that I'm wrong, that's fine, too. I 
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mean, you can tell me why you think I'm wrong. 
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Now, the first problem is the document -- the issue 
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about improper privilege claims. As I understand that issue, 
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it is the presence of Gow, Cohen and maybe somebody else as 
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defeating the privilege, on the one hand. On the other hand, 
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the assertion by the defense that their participation as 
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whatever they are, managers, public relations people, whatever, 
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is necessary for the rendering of legal advice. 
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Parenthetically, there is a subtext there about whose 
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law applies. Let me say, I think we are going to apply New 
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York law in this case. British law may become relevant in some 
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way or other down the road, but for this privilege purpose, I 
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think that's where we are. 
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I think what I would like is I would like any 
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materials that -- the obligation to establish this privilege is 
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obviously Ms. Maxwell's, and I would like any materials that 
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she wants to present to me about these meetings to establish 
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that it was necessary for the rendering of legal advice, I'll 
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review those materials in camera and try to reach a decision. 
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I may need something further after I have looked at them, but I 
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think that's the way I ought to deal with that particular 
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privilege issue. 
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There is a list of documents as to which objections 
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have been made on a variety of bases. I will say probably a 
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catalog of every objection known to the mind of excellent 
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attorneys, and I think we will try to deal with those this 
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afternoon and maybe we'll fail, but let's put those aside just 
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for the moment. 
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The question about a protective order, of course there 
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should be a protective order in this case. You are good 
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lawyers and you have been around this track more times than I 
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have and so you can prepare consensually a better protective 
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order than I can, and I urge you to do that. And, in fact, I 
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will give you two weeks to do that. Should you fail, you can 
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present whatever materials you wish to me and I will decide 
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what the protective order is going to be. That's not a good 
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idea because you know the case better than I do, obviously, and 
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so I urge you to resolve it by your litigation skills and not 
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leave it up to the ignorant district court judge who doesn't 
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really get into this kind of thing very often. So you run a 
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risk if you leave it to me. 
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Now, I would say two weeks, and then if you can't get 
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an agreement, maybe three weeks from now we wrestle with that. 
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Hopefully we won't. I have to do that. 
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The deposition -- the defendant of course will be 
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deposed, and we can work out right now when. Obviously, you 
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don't want that deposition until the protective order is 
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completed. So what do we do about that? Do you want to deal 
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with that today, the actual date of the deposition, or should 
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we pass that until we accomplish the protective order? What do 
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you all think about that? 
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MS. 
Can I be heard on that, your Honor? 
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This is 
I am counsel for Ms. 
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With respect to the deposition date, the 25th was the 
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date that my opposing counsel proposed as possibly being 
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available. So we set it for that date, which is next Friday. 
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We also offered to hold that deposition transcript confidential 
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until such time as the protective order could be issued so that 
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there is no barrier to us being able to take this deposition. 
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THE COURT: How about that? Is that OK? 
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MR. PAGLIUCA: Frankly, it is not, your Honor, and the 
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reason is we, clearly from the papers submitted so far and the 
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exchange of counsel, we have a significant disagreement at this 
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point as to what the word "confidential" actually means, and we 
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have proposed to the plaintiff a protective order that we 
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believe is appropriate and neutral --
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THE COURT: Well, maybe I can -- can we get over -- if 
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that's the primary issue on the protective order, can we deal 
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with that now? 
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MR. PAGLIUCA: I think there is a secondary -- well, 
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it may not even be secondary. There is another issue that is 
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directly related to that, your Honor, and that is the lack of 
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production of documents from the plaintiff. The Court has not 
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seen these papers yet, but there are in my view significant 
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deficiencies with the Rule 26 disclosures. There have been 
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failure to produce documents. And it is unfair at this point 
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to push these depositions forward without the required exchange 
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of discovery. 
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THE COURT: Let me ask the plaintiff. You really --
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MS. 
Could I be heard on that? Thank you, 
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your Honor. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt you. 
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THE COURT: What do you think? 
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MS. 
Right. The issue is so I issued my 
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deposition notice before they even served discovery requests. 
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THE COURT: OK. All right. 
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MS. 
I've done 3,000 pages. They've done 
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two emails. 
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THE COURT: Look, doesn't it make sense to resolve any 
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document discovery issues perhaps before the deposition? 
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MS. 
I don't think so, your Honor. I want 
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the testimony of this defendant in order to move this case 
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forward. Our discovery closes in July. I issued my discovery 
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requests in October. I have not gotten the deposition of the 
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defendant yet. This is a date she is available. She is not 
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leaving the country. She is not going anywhere. I have her in 
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town next Friday. 
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I'll even agree to their protective order if it means 
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I can get her deposition, your Honor. I just need to get this 
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case moving forward. I need one deposition, the deposition of 
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the defendant in this case, who has called my client a liar. 
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We are entitled to depose her and see if she is going to answer 
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the questions about why she was --
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THE COURT: All right. OK. 
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MS. 
I am entitled to answers. 
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THE COURT: Well --
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MR. PAGLIUCA: Your Honor, I think this is a good 
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meeting and it is a meeting that should have happened a long 
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time ago. Let me say to the Court that we proposed to meet 
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with plaintiff's counsel early on in this case to put together 
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a discovery schedule that made sense. We proposed that orally 
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and in writing. That proposal was ignored and rebuffed. And 
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counsel for the plaintiff then unilaterally scheduled a bunch 
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of depositions without conferring on dates. Unilaterally, 
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here's the dates, here are the depositions. We then tried to 
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work through that issue, at the same time trying to work 
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through the protective order issue and the document issue, and 
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we get no response. And I think the agenda here is to gain a 
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tactical advantage by not responding to these requests. 
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THE COURT: Well, I can't believe that lawyers would 
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seek a tactical advantage. I can't believe such a thing. 
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MR. PAGLIUCA: I am shocked. 
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THE COURT: OK. Tell you what we're going to do. 
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We'll -- three weeks, let's see. Her deposition -- this 
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question about document production, that hasn't been teed up, 
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so I don't know --
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MS. 
And can I be heard on that really 
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quickly? I mean, If that were the standard, that they could 
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wait to --
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THE COURT: No. It hasn't been teed up, I agree. 
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(Pause) 
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OK. Then I think what we should do is I'm assuming we 
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will resolve the protective order problem 
we've sort of slug 
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over the -- can we resolve what's confidential? Is that 
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possible? Could we do that this afternoon, or is that too 
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complicated? 
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MS. 
Your Honor, I can have the deposition 
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of the defendant in this case and move this case forward. I 
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will agree to their protective order. I just want that 
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deposition. 
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THE COURT: Yes. 
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MS. 
It is that important to me. 
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THE COURT: I get your point. I understand that. But 
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at the same time, I think, given the nature of all that lies in 
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this, I think it is fair to say no side would like to have this 
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aired, and so we've got to have a protective order that 
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everybody feels comfortable with. 
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MS. 
Your Honor, you can today enter the 
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protective order that they submit. I will disregard my 
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objections if I get the deposition. 
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THE COURT: Will you agree now to the protective 
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order? 
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MS. 
Yes. If it means I can get her 
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deposition, yes, I will do that. 
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THE COURT: Oh, OK. Good. Well, that solved that. 
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MR. PAGLIUCA: It is not as simple as that, your 
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Honor, because this quid pro quo, I'll agree to their 
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protective order if I can have the deposition on the 25th, 
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doesn't solve the problem. 
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THE COURT: At least we've separated it. She has 
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agreed to the protective order. OK? So that's done. OK? 
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Now, why can't we have her deposition upon, whatever 
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it is, a week from Friday? 
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MS. 
Friday, the 25th, this coming Friday, a 
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week from tomorrow. 
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THE COURT: Oh, a week from tomorrow, yes. 
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MS. 
Yes. 
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MS. MENNINGER: Your Honor, we served discovery 
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requests on plaintiff on February 12th. 
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THE COURT: Well, look, that's nice. That's good. 
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But I don't have that, and I think she's right that there is no 
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rule that says you have to get your discovery requests 
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satisfied before the deposition, so 
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MS. MENNINGER: Your Honor, the responses were due 
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last night yesterday, so that is prior to Ms. Maxwell for the 
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25th. However, as a part of producing that discovery response, 
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they have said they're going to take a month to roll out their 
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production, not just 
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THE COURT: Look. I'll tell you what let's do. I 
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don't have that, but let's -- we'll hold the deposition date. 
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