Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe

Firm overview:

With roots in California’s Gold Rush era, Orrick has grown to become a respected, full-service firm with a modern outlook and a broad global presence. The firm focuses on representing clients in technology, financial services, energy, life sciences and healthcare—and its trade secrets practice interweaves through all of these sectors. A financial services client reports “good results and thoughtful representation” from Orrick’s team.

Orrick takes an interdisciplinary approach to protecting and enforcing clients’ trade secrets, bringing together lawyers from its Employment Law & Litigation; IP; Complex Litigation & Dispute Resolution; and White Collar and Criminal Defence teams.

Where necessary, the firm is well placed to litigate “large, messy trade secrets disputes”, with experience on evidentiary hearings for preliminary injunction hearings all the way to jury trials. Orrick’s lawyers are trial practitioners with several notable cases that have gone the distance in state and federal court.

Team overview:

First chair trial lawyer Robert Shwarts has served as chair of Orrick’s Global Trade Secrets Practice Group. He represents plaintiffs and defendants in complex trade secret misappropriation cases, and has tried or arbitrated many cases in commercial litigation, employment and intellectual property.

Partners Josh Rosenkranz, Eric Shumsky and Chris Cariello received plaudits for overturning a record $2 billion judgment in a trade secrets case for software company Pegasystems.

Key matters:

• Pegasystems v Appian Corporation, Court of Appeals Virginia, Record No. 1399-22-4

Orrick represents software company Pegasystems in this high-profile trade secrets case.

Following a record $2 billion judgment for Appian in 2022, the Virginia Court of Appeal reversed this verdict on appeal in July 2024, wiping out the largest trade secrets judgment in history as well as the largest damages award ever in the Virginia courts.

Pegasystems (Pega) hired Orrick’s appellate team after the 2022 trial verdict.

The appellate court found that the trial judge had mishandled the case, and criticised the calculation of damages, which were based on Pega’s total sales rather than specific damages related to the alleged trade secrets.

The Supreme Court of Virginia granted Appian’s request to hear its appeal, and agreed to hear Pega’s arguments about why the case should be dismissed.

In January 2026, the court affirmed the appeal’s court’s decision that the original $2.036 billion verdict could not stand as entered, firmly rejecting Appian’s bid to reinstate the full award.

While confirming that the jury’s finding of misappropriation was correct, the Supreme Court concluded that the errors demanded a retrial according to the correct legal standard.

Clients:

Pegasystems, Fitbit, Microsoft, Advice Interactive Group, Advanced Technology & Materials, AQR Capital Management, Couchbase, 10X Genomics, ExamWorks, Desktop Metal, Teknor Apex Company.