Former Meta Intern Can Represent Texas in Biometric Privacy Suit

A Keller Postman LLP partner who served a decade ago as an intern in the Meta Platforms Inc. legal department can represent Texas in its biometric privacy lawsuit against the social media giant, a Texas appeals court ruled Wednesday.

The trial court didn’t abuse its discretion in denying Meta’s disqualification motion, Justice Jeff Rambin of the Texas Court of Appeals, Sixth Appellate District said, rejecting Meta’s petition for a writ of mandamus.

The state sued Meta in February 2022, alleging the social media giant collected the biometric data of millions of Texans without their consent in violation of the state’s Capture or Use of Biometric Identifier Act.

Meta argued in the petition that Zina Bash, a partner with Keller Postman who is the state’s lead outside counsel in the lawsuit, should be disqualified along with her firm based on her work for Meta as a summer intern in 2012.

Bash had a law degree at the time of her internship, and her work for Meta was “substantially related” to the state’s lawsuit, making disqualification mandatory, Meta said.

The appellate court disagreed.

Granting a writ of mandamus is appropriate only where the party seeking relief has shown that only one outcome in the trial court was permissible as a matter of law, Rambin said.

The Texas rules of professional conduct provide helpful guidance in weighing a disqualification motion but do not of themselves determine whether counsel should be disqualified in a particular case, he said.

“It was well within the trial court’s discretion to deny Meta’s disqualification motion,” he said.

Justices Scott E. Stevens and Charles van Cleef joined in the opinion.

Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP and Gillam & Smith LLP represent Meta. Keller Postman LLC and McKool Smith represent Texas along with the state attorney general’s office.

The case is In re Meta Platforms Inc., Tex. App., 6th Dist., No. 06-23-00045, 6/14/23.