Lawyers behaving badly

Some of the biggest headlines from the second Vioxx trial centered on the misbehavior of Merck's trial team. The defense attorneys were often outspoken and quarreled repeatedly with the trial judge. Merck's attorneys in this trial are all accomplished lawyers with years of trial experience. One has to wonder then: why all the fireworks and outbursts?

One answer is that it was done for strategic reasons. This article details some of the flare ups in the trial by the Merck team and what they may have hoped to gain by them.