Operational detail
How I work.
If you're preparing to appoint a special master — or you're a clerk drafting a recommendation memo for chambers — this is the page for you. The two structural modes a special master can work in, the moments across a case where I tend to become useful, and direct answers to the questions chambers usually has.
My role in chambers.
A special-master appointment can take different shapes, and the form belongs to the bench. The shape I work in by default keeps the case — and every ruling — entirely with the court. I sit in chambers as a resource the judge and the chambers team can lean on: a patent attorney with an engineer's training and a former federal-court clerkship behind me, available for the technical and procedural questions a patent case raises. The bench retains decisional authority on everything.
A more formal arrangement is also available — one where the special master issues findings the parties address directly. I'm comfortable in either. I describe my default because it's the one most judges I've worked with have preferred.
Roles across the life of a case.
A special master in my mode isn't a single job description. It's a small set of moments across a case where a specific kind of help is useful. None of these moments compete with your chambers; they fill gaps a generalist law clerk can't be expected to fill on a patent case.
Early in the case
Scheduler.
Patent cases sometimes need to be scheduled a little differently from a generic civil case. I help with the scheduling order so the cadence fits the kind of case it actually is.
Before each major hearing
Technology tutor.
We sit down for a private tutorial — sometimes an hour, sometimes longer. We walk through the technology, the prosecution history, and each side's real argument under the law. The closest analogy is a private tutor who visits the week before a test. By the time you're on the bench, you've already seen the material.
On major motions
Major-motion specialist.
On the heaviest patent motions — claim construction and summary judgment — the technical analysis can consume the chambers team for weeks. I carry the technology and prosecution-history work that otherwise sits on your clerks' desks, so the analysis is ready when the bench is ready to rule.
The hearing itself
A prepared bench.
By the time the bench reaches the hearing, the preparation has been done. The technology is familiar, the prosecution history is read, the parties' arguments are mapped. The hearing becomes a place where the bench can press on the questions that matter — rather than work out the technical foundations under time pressure.
Around month nine
Mediator.
Once claim construction has settled the central dispute, the parties usually have enough clarity to value the case honestly. At that point I'll reach out to both sides and propose mediation. Most cases that reach mediation at the right time settle there. The cases I've helped settle outnumber the cases I've helped decide.
The work doesn't compete with your chambers. It fills the gaps a generalist law clerk can't be expected to fill on a patent case.
Practical questions chambers tends to have.
Will the parties object to my appointment?
Objections happen, but rarely. Across dozens of cases, the most common objection has been cost — particularly where one side is on contingency and fronting expenses. The objection is almost never about the appointment itself. I keep my rate low for special-master work for exactly that reason: this work is meant to help the court, not to add a billable line to the parties' war chest.
What does it cost?
My hourly rate for special-master work is intentionally kept low. The work is meant to help the court, not to add a billable line to the parties' war chest. The parties split the cost on the schedule you set in the appointment order, and I bill conservatively across the life of a case — weighted toward the major motions. I'll send a specific fee proposal alongside the conflicts check.
How do your term clerks fit in?
Your clerks don't lose work to me. They gain a specialist who teaches as they go. With term clerks specifically, I walk through the patent-law fundamentals their law-school curriculum probably skipped — they pick it up alongside the work itself, the way I picked it up alongside the judge I clerked for.
What does confidentiality look like?
What happens in chambers stays in chambers. I sign whatever protective orders are in place. I do not disclose another judge's deliberations to colleagues, to my own law firm, or to anyone else — not even informally. I will not ask for an endorsement and I would not accept one. The most candid thing a judge could say about working with me would still be too private to publish. That's the way it should be.
If you'd like to speak with a judge I've worked with before placing the call, ask me by name and I'll see whether they'd be open to a conversation.
How to start the conversation.
Email or a short phone call is best. Both are at the bottom of this page.
If a conflicts check would be useful before the conversation, send the case number and the parties' names; I'll run the check and reply within a business day either way. If you'd rather just speak first, that's also fine — the conflicts conversation can happen on the call.
To reach me.
Email — darrow@darrowmustafa.com
Direct — 248-864-5961
Office — 41860 Six Mile Road, Northville, Michigan 48168
Fax — (248) 864-5960
I'll respond personally.
Want to see what I've done? View the full case list →