Cravath, Swaine & Moore partner Evan Chesler kicked off the first major courtroom clash between Apple Inc. and Qualcomm Inc. with a simple yet urgent message: “The house is on fire, your honor.”

He described client Qualcomm, the San Diego telecom company, as under worldwide assault from Apple, which is suing in San Diego federal court for antitrust, breach of contract and a declaration of patent noninfringement. Apple has piled on with similar actions in the U.K., China, Japan and Taiwan.