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Welcome to the third annual installment of Seyfarth Shaw’s Commercial Litigation Outlook, in which our nationally-recognized team provides insights about litigation issues and trends to expect in 2023.

The likely continuing global tumult and increasing chances for a recession will weigh heavily on the litigation outlook for 2023. In short, we expect an uneven year where some litigation booms and some busts. As was true last year, the trick to navigating the upcoming challenges will require clients and their counsel to be adaptive, creative, and proactive.

Join us for a three-part webinar series, where members of our Commercial Litigation practice group will discuss key trends in the commercial litigation space.

REGISTER HERE

Webinar 1

Tuesday, February 7, 2023
1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. Eastern
12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. Central
11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Mountain
10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. Pacific

In the first session of the series, we will provide insight on the tidal wave of ESG demands, reports, and conflicts (legal and otherwise), as well as significant trends, predictions and recommendations in the following areas:

  • Trial Outlook
  • Consumer Class Actions
  • Trade Secrets, Computer Fraud & Non-Competes
  • eDiscovery & Innovation

Speakers: 

Kristine Argentine, Partner, Seyfarth Shaw

Jay Carle, Partner, Seyfarth Shaw

Rebecca Davis, Partner, Seyfarth Shaw

Dawn Mertineit, Partner, Seyfarth Shaw

Christopher Robertson, Partner, Seyfarth Shaw…

Continue Reading Upcoming Webinar Series! Commercial Litigation Outlook: Insights and Predictions for Litigation Trends in 2023

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In the second installment of the 2023 Trade Secrets Webinar Series, Seyfarth attorneys reviewed noteworthy legislation, cases, and legal developments from across the nation over the last year in the areas of trade secrets and data theft, non-competes and other restrictive covenants, and computer fraud. Plus, they provided predictions for what to expect in 2023.

As a conclusion to this…

Continue Reading Webinar Recap! 2022 Trade Secrets & Non-Competes Year in Review
trade secrets litigation

Safeguarding trade secrets is typically Rule No. 1 for many companies—particularly technology companies. Therefore, when a company needs to share its highly-guarded trade secrets with a subcontractor in order to complete a project together, most companies understandably require the subcontractor to enter into a confidentiality agreement that includes a non-disclosure provision. Many of those confidentiality agreements also include a liquidated damages provision that is triggered by the subcontractor’s breach.…

Continue Reading 11th Circuit Upholds Trial Court’s Rejection of Liquidated Damages in Trade Secret Case

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This post was originally published on Seyfarth’s Gadgets, Gigabytes & Goodwill blog.

Ransomware attacks have become one of the most common and pervasive cybercrimes perpetrated against US companies. A bad actor, often from overseas, will gain access to upload malware onto a company’s network storage or application platforms that encrypts all files it can access. A message or text file is usually left with instructions on how to contact the attacker to pay a ransom for the decryption key. In the worst case, a ransomware attack can freeze the business operations by effectively removing access to the company’s critical systems and rendering them useless. Aside from the business impact, what legal implications are created by a ransomware attack?…

Continue Reading Ransomware Attacks: Harmless Annoyances or Catastrophic Events?

dawn mertineit named vice chair

Seyfarth partner Dawn Mertineit was recently named Vice Chair of the Trade Secrets Committee for the Intellectual Property Owners Association (IPO).

The Trade Secrets Committee focuses on providing practical education to IPO membership and the public on the topic of trade secrets, including presentations, white papers, and form documents. Find more information about the IPO Trade Secret Committee on the…

Continue Reading Dawn Mertineit Named Vice Chair of Intellectual Property Owners Association Trade Secrets Committee
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On January 4, 2023, the Dallas Court of Appeals in Texas affirmed a summary judgment in a trade secrets physician staffing case that stands as a warning to practitioners regarding (1) what constitutes sufficient damages evidence to survive summary judgment, and (2) whether something can be considered on appeal that has been sealed or subject to a confidentiality agreement.…

Continue Reading Texas Court of Appeals Affirms Summary Judgment in Physician Staffing Case Citing Lack of Damages Evidence

Trade Secrets Year in Review Webinar

Tuesday, January 24, 2023
1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. Eastern
12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. Central
11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Mountain
10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. Pacific

REGISTER HERE

In the second installment of the 2023 Trade Secrets Webinar Series, Seyfarth attorneys will review the noteworthy legislation, cases, and legal developments from across the nation over the last year…

Continue Reading Upcoming Webinar! 2022 Trade Secrets & Non-Competes Year in Review
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Earlier this year, Seyfarth Shaw partnered to issue the 2022 Future Employer survey to clients and contacts. We surveyed in-house legal and business leaders to find out how they are thinking about the “Future of Work.” This was an important continuation of Seyfarth’s thought leadership endeavors related to futurist legal-thinking and the future of work, which we formalized five years ago with the inaugural survey in 2017. With respect to the protection of company data and intellectual property, the survey results highlight the need for companies to have thoughtful policies and procedures that address data usage and retention in a hybrid work environment.…

Continue Reading Future Employer Survey Results Highlight Need For Companies To Implement Thoughtful Policies To Protect Company Data and Intellectual Property in Hybrid Work Environment

trade secrets 2022 webinar series recap and takeaways

Throughout 2022, our dedicated Trade Secrets, Computer Fraud & Non-Compete practice group hosted a series of CLE webinars that addressed significant trade secret and restrictive covenant issues facing companies today. This year’s series included:

  1. 2021 Trade Secrets & Non-Competes Year in Review
  2. Protecting Trade Secrets and Enforcing Restrictive Covenants Internationally
  3. Employee Mobility & Its Effects on Trade Secrets and Non-Competes
  4. Anatomy of a Restrictive Covenant
  5. How and Why Texas Is Different When It Comes to Trade Secrets and Non-Competes
  6. How Multijurisdictional Businesses Should Approach Non-Competes
  7. Protecting Confidential Information and Client Relationships in the Financial Services Industry
  8. Overview of Non-Compete Legislation and Enforcement Issues from 2022

As a conclusion to our 2022 webinar series, we compiled a list of key takeaway points for each program. For those who missed any of the programs in this year’s series, recordings of all of our past webinars are available on the blog, or you may click on the link for each webinar below to view the recording.…

Continue Reading 2022 Trade Secrets Webinar Series: Takeaways & Recordings

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Seyfarth attorneys Joshua Salinas and Michael Wexler and digital forensic technologist James Vaughn (iDiscovery Solutions) presented a webinar on December 19, 2022, entitled, “Trade Secret Protection: Through the pandemic and beyond.” The experienced panel discussed the latest developments and trends in trade secret protection as businesses look to reestablish themselves in a post-pandemic world, including:

  • Workplace hot topics, such as
… Continue Reading Recap! Trade Secret Protection and Future Technology