Gibson Dunn
Firm overview:
Gibson Dunn is considered by industry counterparts to be among the top firms for complex, critical trade secrets matters. The firm “definitely has some good trade secrets cases”, comments a peer. Gibson Dunn’s IP practice, along with its labour and employment groups, feed into its trade secrets practice, which in turn overlaps with its criminal/white collar investigations. These form the foundation for a robust, well-rounded trade secrets service.
The team has litigated a broad range of trade secrets disputes, and won major victories for clients in the United States federal and state courts and in arbitration.
Team overview:
Co-chair of the firm’s Media, Entertainment and Technology Practice Group Ilissa Samplin (Los Angeles) focuses on complex commercial litigation and trials. Samplin’s capabilities extend to breach of contract, unfair competition, copyright, trademark, trade secret, and antitrust matters.
Other notable members of the team include first-chair trial litigator Kieran Kieckhefer (San Fransisco), who has an impressive docket of technical trade secrets work; highly experienced trade secrets lawyer Angelique Kaounis (Century City); and former federal prosecutor Orin Snyder (New York), acclaimed by clients as “a maestro in the courtroom”.
Elsewhere, Dallas partner Russ Falconer is described by a peer as “smart and a good strategist” and “excellent on his feet arguing in court”. Falconer has successfully litigated complex commercial disputes involving a range of issues including trade secrets, breach of contract, business torts and data privacy.
Key matters:
- DraftKings: Trade secrets litigation
Gibson Dunn’s Orin Snyder, along with counsel from WilmerHale, represented sports betting company DraftKings in litigation with a former executive who was accused of stealing trade secrets before quitting his job and moving to rival Fanatics.
The former executive denied stealing the trade secrets and filed a separate lawsuit challenging a non-compete agreement in California.
In December 2024, the parties told a federal court in Boston that they had reached a confidential settlement.
The case is DraftKings v Hermalyn, US District Court for the District of Massachusetts, 1:24-cv-10299.
- HSBC v First Citizens Bank
The team secured an order that significantly narrowed a $1 billion lawsuit against client HSBC, which had been accused of poaching more than 40 employees of Silicon Valley Bank after its collapse.
The case is First Citizens Bank & Trust Company v HSBC Holdings, US District Court for the Northern District of California, 23-cv-02483.
Clients:
Amrock, Archer Aviation, DraftKings, Guardant Health, HSBC, Kimberly-Clark, Nike, Oath Holdings, SoundCloud
