As you may have heard, Apple is suing Samsung.  There is no shortage of coverage of the daily happenings of trial including some very good technical analysis of the issues.  Apple is alleging that Samsung stole its intellectual property.  But one thing no one can steal is Conan O’Brien’s intellectual quirkiness.  His spoof of the dispute is very funny:

This week, one development that was reported is the histrionics of a lawyer “begging” the judge to admit an item of evidence.  One commentator on this issue (and others) analogizes it to “working the refs.”  That age old tradition seems to be an accepted part of sports.  In fact, some argue that it works wonders.  How about in the legal world?  Can lawyers (coaches) advocating for clients (players) “work” the Judges (refs) before whom they appear?  One commentary suggests that while it may not garner any favorable results from the trial judge it could pay off in the event of appellate review.  I’m not sure I agree with the view that such actions will carry much weight on appeal (or with the trial judge for that matter).  It seems a bit to me like “strenuously objecting” with the exception that the Samsung event apparently was not in front of a jury: 

Nonetheless, in the court of public opinion, displaying such a strong belief in the crucial nature of certain evidence could win over consumers which really may be the point.