Sure he does.
But there is 2 sides to every coin. Hundreds of people living on less than $1 per day died from painful cancer with no access to treatment - in their mid 20's - because of the oil spilled by the Oil firms there.
Donziger wanted to make that right.. against overwhelming odds. He represented the impoverished victims. He starts looking somewhat decent under that light, don't you think ?
Was there another way? I'm not really sure. So I go back to the facts. The law in that country, is clear.
Strictly speaking, that was not illegal. We have a judge, busy, perhaps even incompetent, wanting out from a complex opinion. He took the easy road out. To anyone in the US, this would seem bad. But that sense of justice is skewed to US law, which is unfortunate because US law and procedure is lights years ahead of other countries.
What I am saying is that there is room for considerations outside what is appropriate, because other legal systems are not build to defend the powerless, only the powerful.
US law procedure is very good at defending the powerless. That's almost always never the case elsewhere.