Corporate Litigation, Trade Secret Law, Trade Secret Litigation

Recent Firm Experience

Corporate and Commercial Transactions

General Counsel We serve as general counsel to one of the country’s largest staffing companies, which has over 15,000 employees.

Mergers and Acquisitions. We recently represented the shareholders of a specialty insurance company in its sale to a large European insurer.

Corporate Reorganization We advised one of the country’s largest companies in a squeeze-out merger as part of a larger corporate reorganization. We also advised several closely held companies in the buy-out of minority shareholders.

Corporate Governance We recently advised the board of directors of a large non-profit institution regarding its fiduciary obligations. We also counseled a local college alumni group concerning a potential legal challenge to certain actions taken by the college. We have also counseled a senior nonprofit executive in a dispute with a board chair, and advised another nonprofit on termination of its executive director.

Franchise Conversion. Over the past several years we represented a nationally known company in the termination of several franchise agreements.

Service Agreements We routinely draft standard form service agreements for use by many of our clients. We recently won a jury case in which a client was alleged to have breached a service agreement vicariously through the intentional tort of a borrowed servant.

Employment Law

Discrimination Charges. At any given time we defend a large number of employers against age, sex, race, and disability discrimination charges. Last year in a jury trial we successfully defended a claim of sexual harassment claim against a supervisor and against the employer on claims it “looked the other way.”

Employment Agreements. On a frequent basis we draft and negotiate employment agreements for senior executives of large regional and national employers, both in the commercial and the non-profit sector.

Non-Competition Agreements. We have drafted non-competition and trade-secret protection agreements for use on a countrywide basis for several national employers in the insurance and staffing industries.

Reductions-in-Force. We have advised on reductions-in-force in excess of 500 employees, with special attention to the WARN Act issues arising from large terminations of employment. We have also drafted severance plans, releases, and related documentation necessary for reductions-in-force, and have performed the necessary adverse impact analysis.

Bankruptcy and Creditors’ Rights

Creditors’ Rights: We routinely assist banks, federal credit union, landlords, and other types of companies with protecting their financial interests both inside and outside of the bankruptcy process.

Restructuring Debt and Asset Protection: We assist both corporate and individual debtors with restructuring their debts and protecting their assets both inside and outside of bankruptcy protection.

Commercial Litigation

Commercial Litigation. We represent businesses in a variety of disputes. Examples include defending a mortgage lender in multiparty litigation arising from post-closing claims relating to a multi-unit apartment complex, representing a service provider in litigation arising from transfers of funds via the Internet, representing a hospital in a dispute with a large defense contractor relating to the purchase of a health care information system, and defending a purchaser of a jet aircraft in a dispute with a broker regarding sales commissions.

Trade Secret and Restrictive Covenant Litigation. We routinely represent both employers and senior executives in trade secrets and non-competition covenant litigation. Our representation includes pre-litigation planning, obtaining and defending against temporary restraining orders, preliminary injunction hearings, arbitration proceedings, and trials on damages.

Insurance Litigation. We represent insurers in business litigation in federal court in many parts of the United States, including actions related to the sale of structured settlement annuities. We also have defended disability insurance claims, both those brought under policies issued to individuals and those brought under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). We have obtained several significant published decisions in these areas.

Constitutional Litigation. We have represented clients in litigation of constitutional matters, including representing a public official in First Amendment-based Section 1983 litigation.

Administrative Law

Regulations. We represented the Maryland land surveying industry and others in a successful court challenge to minimum surveying standards regulations that were deemed unacceptable, and negotiated an acceptable alternative. Later, we represented segments of the industry in a successful lobbying effort to improve amendments to the regulations.

Agency Relations. We successfully litigated rollbacks of federal administrative interpretations that would have cost home health agency clients hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Licensure and Employment. We have often prevailed over government regulators in the defense of professional licenses of physicians, insurance agents, surveyors, nurses, and home security technicians in disciplinary proceedings. We have also frequently successfully represented government employees in personnel matters.

Community Associations. We advise and represent community associations in internal matters and in dealings with government agencies.