Features

John Wright – Triumph Group Inc.

He’s yours for a song or a legal solution

While clerking for U.S. District Judge Louis Bechtle in Philadelphia during the early 1980s, John Wright learned lessons from the distinguished jurist that might not have been covered a few years earlier at Villanova School of Law.

“He was quite the pragmatist,” remembers Wright, who since 2004 has served as a vice president, general counsel and secretary for the Pennsylvania-based aerospace and defense company, Triumph Group Inc. “Judge Bechtle taught me that there are maybe three to five issues in any case. Solve those and the rest will fall away.”

John B. Wright - Triumph Group Inc.

Sounds fine in theory, but those without refined legal minds might still wonder how it all was put to practice around the time when Wright became Triumph’s top in-house lawyer, which just so happened to coincide with the start of some very acrimonious litigation brought on by a competitor, Cleveland-based Eaton. That case would go on for a decade until it was settled, with myriad details and twists and turns that hardly seemed capable of being boiled down to the basics.

The specifics of those basics, he’s not at liberty to say.

“Client confidentiality,” Wright reminds in the deep bass voice that makes him as comfortable on stage in community theater or with a venerable Philly men’s chorus as he is in a courtroom.

More on his singing and theatrical pursuits later, but Wright does find skills from those areas applicable to trial law.

A lot to boil down

In a case that would spawn more than 2,400 docket entries in Mississippi’s Hinds County Circuit Court, Eaton sued a Triumph Group affiliate, Frisby Aerospace, alleging that it benefited from aviation patents stolen by five engineers and a computer specialist it had hired from the plaintiffs.

For the next 10 years and across four states, charges and countercharges flew like tennis balls, among them being Triumph’s allegations that Eaton engaged in anticompetitive actions and even stepped out of bounds by trying to influence a judge. Finally, in the spring of 2014, the case was settled with Eaton agreeing to pay $135.3 million to Triumph, and another $12.2 million that would be divvied up among the six people it had accused of patent theft.

Such high-stakes settlements usually are followed by spins from each side about how it was to the company’s interests to move on, but it’s hard not to view it as anything less than a win for Triumph.

Wright shared in the satisfaction with the result, given that he was in charge of the team. A team that had been assembled and orchestrated in a manner that John Shankweiler, conductor of the Orpheus Club of Philadelphia, would have approved.

Legal team in perfect pitch

A fixture in the social and cultural life of the City of Brotherly Love, the Orpheus Club has been around since 1872 and consists of about 80 men ranging from college grads to senior citizens, with Wright somewhere in the upper middle. The common denominator is they can sing, but they don’t all sing alike. Wright’s deep voice is complemented by baritones and tenors.

Just as a chorus benefits from many different voices, Wright sought diversity of legal acumen when he gathered his team, both in-house and out, for the marathon suit against Eaton.

John B. Wright - Triumph Group Inc.

“It’s like a casting decision,” Wright explains. “You pick lawyers who are suitable to the case or who you’ll know will be a good match for the other side. If principles are at stake, you bring in someone effective in that area. If you need someone with edge, you find them, too. We built our team in a way that had a variety of assets—expertise in certain areas, different personalities … we played off each others’ strengths and worked around the weaknesses to maximize the effectiveness and not duplicate anyone’s efforts. Egos? We had some of them too, but in order to win, we knew who should have the ball and take penalty kicks.”

So the chorus analogy can be broadened to soccer. Other analogies also may be appropriate to this case.

Any way you slice it

“The legal process can be more meat cleaver than scalpel,” Wright warns. “Litigation won’t solve everything. Mediation often is the better choice.”

But making one’s case to the mediator is a skill in itself. Wright partially credits a book by a Nobel Prize-winning Israeli-American psychologist, Daniel Kahneman, for helping him hone his own understanding of the mediation process.

“Thinking, Fast and Slow,” the book is titled, and since its 2012 publication it has become a favorite among many folks in law and politics, but Wright says its lessons can be applied in all walks of life.

There’s emotional thinking and there’s logical thinking, both of which serve a purpose. However, what one person deems rational may be so because of the way he or she has been wired by any number of unique influences. In a group setting, others might see those proclivities, and mediation does occur in a group setting. Having insight here, better enables one to make the judgments and decisions that lead to an optimal outcome, says Wright.

“When you get people to work toward a resolution, it’s often because you understand the way they’ll make a decision,” Wright says.

An esoteric subject, to be sure. More so than what typically lands on Wright’s to-do list. But it’s all vital to sustaining the company’s health.

He has negotiated or overseen multiple acquisitions, dispositions and refinancings of bank debt, and issuances of senior subordinated debt and convertible debt. He counsels senior management and directors on corporate governance and securities law and oversees the company’s compliance with an array of regulatory laws affecting the aerospace and defense industry.

That’s a lot of high-finance and business expertise that might seem out of the ordinary for a man like Wright, a biology major as a Princeton undergrad, who originally seemed destined for med school. But the natural sciences have a way of conditioning the mind for any intellectual endeavor.

“I have found that my science background affects my thinking as a lawyer,” he says. “It organizes my thinking in a way I can apply to any number of subjects that might be pertinent to a matter, and colors the way I try to find solutions to the problems that come before me.”

Some singing seems to enhance that background. As does the timeless legal wisdom of retired Judge Bechtle, now 90 years old and revered as ever by Wright and so many others.

Published on: February 26, 2018

regions:

categories:

Showcase your feature on your website with a custom “As Featured in Vanguard” badge that links directly to your article!

Copy and paste this script into your page coding (ideally right before the closing tag) where you want to display our review banner.

Testimonials

The piece highlighting my company, Bob Baker Enterprises, Inc., came out fabulous. Our company is in the new and used car sales and service industry. Everyone was great to work with and extremely professional. They produced a high-quality product and have provided expert assistance and guidance post-production of the article.
– Wade Poulson, General Counsel, Bob Baker Enterprises Inc.
I was honored to be the subject of an article. I enjoy reading Vanguard articles and seeing how other attorneys got to their positions and see their jobs. It's also interesting to see how different law firms partner with the subjects of the articles.
– Henry Marquard, in-house counsel, Stanley Consultants Inc.
As promised in advance, my feature in Vanguard has increased my visibility within the profession and prompted more than a few people I have not communicated with recently to reconnect. One of the Italian law firms I have used in the past is now in the process of interviewing me for an article on their website and tweeting out the feature story. Activity and the number of people connecting with me on LinkedIn has soared, which is great. The Vanguard writers and editorial staff were great to work with—highly professional and made the effort to make the experience both fun and rewarding (they were also respectful of the time pressures and demands all lawyers face). I was very pleased with the experience and the final outcome. Needless to say, I have been very pleased. All in all working with Vanguard has been a very positive experience which generated good publicity for both Shawcor and myself. My sincere thanks.
– Tim Hutzul, General Counsel, ShawCor Ltd.
It was a great honor to be featured in Vanguard Law. Working with every member of the team, from the initial interview with Erin Clark, through production with Victor Martins, writing the article with Taryn Plumb and creating the final content with Dave Gushee, was a true pleasure. Everyone was very professional, enthusiastic and supportive, and their creative approach and positive attitude clearly came through in the final product.
– Kevin C. Rakowski, Senior Vice President, Deputy General Counsel, Compliance with Radian Group Inc.

LATEST EDITION

Fall II 2023

READ NOW

GET VANGUARD IN YOUR INBOX.

  • * We’ll never share your email or info with anyone.
  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.