Robert Milligan > Seyfarth Shaw LLP > Los Angeles (Century City), United States > Lawyer Profile

Seyfarth Shaw LLP
2029 CENTURY PARK EAST
SUITE 3500
LOS ANGELES, CA 90067-3021
CALIFORNIA
United States

Work Department

Trade Secrets, Computer Fraud & Non-Competes

Position

Partner
Co-Chair of Trade Secrets, Computer Fraud & Non-Competes
Editor of www.TradeSecretsLaw.com blog

Career

Robert Milligan co-chairs Seyfarth Shaw LLP’s Trade Secrets, Computer Fraud & Non-Competes practice group. His practice primarily focuses on trade secret, non-compete, and data theft/protection litigation, investigations, and transactional work. Robert represents multinational companies in a variety of key industries in trade secrets and restrictive covenant litigation and routinely provides valuable transactional advice on how to best protect valuable intellectual property assets in significant business transactions. He is a recognized national leader in trade secrets law serving on the prestigious Sedona Conference for Trade Secrets Working Group and serving as a Chair of the California Lawyer Association’s Trade Secrets Interest Group. He previously served in similar positions for the ABA and ITechLaw. Clients frequently turn to Robert for his practical and effective advice to address their trade secret and non-compete issues, including conducting internal investigations, trade secret audits, and drafting relevant agreements and policies. In the past few years alone, he has obtained numerous injunctions in several high profile “bet-the-company” matters involving high level executives and has also defeated numerous requests for injunctive relief in similar type matters. Robert is a leading industry expert on trade secret and non-compete matters and is often interviewed by the media concerning high profile and significant trade secret matters. He played a leading role on the ABA Intellectual Property Section, and he was instrumental in drafting an ABA resolution in support of the passage of Defend Trade Secrets Act, which were credited by Congress in its ultimate passage. He is the Editor in Chief of the firm’s award winning trade secrets blog, http://www.tradesecretslaw.com/, and he coordinates the firm’s popular trade secrets webinar series, which produces regular timely content on significant trade secret issues. He also played a leading role as a founding member of the Sedona Group’s Trade Secret Working Group and recently served as Senior Editor of the Sedona Group’s paper “Protecting Trade Secrets throughout the Employment Life Cycle.” He is also the co-editor and an author of a leading Trade Secrets treatise entitled Trade Secret Litigation and Protection: A Practice Guide to the DTSA and the CUTSA. More information about Robert Milligan can be found at https://www.seyfarth.com/people/robert-b-milligan.html

Memberships

ITechLaw Association, IP Committee chair; State Bar of California (Business Law Section, Intellectual Property Section, Trade Secret Subsection, Employment Law Section, Litigation Section); Los Angeles County Bar Association, Litigation Inn of Court; Beverly Hills Bar Association; International Franchise Association; Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals; Association of Business Trial Lawyers; American Bar Association, Trade Secrets and Tortious Interference Committee; The Sedona Conference’s Working Group 12 on Trade Secrets, Inaugural Steering Committee

Education

JD, University of California Davis School of Law; BA, Gonzaga University

Lawyer Rankings

United States > Intellectual property > Trade secrets (litigation and non-contentious matters)

(Leading lawyers)

Robert Milligan – Seyfarth Shaw LLP

Complex IP litigation, alleged misappropriations and breaches of contract are mainstays of the trade secrets offering at Seyfarth Shaw LLP which is well-equipped to assist its sector-spanning client portfolio, which includes significant names from the pharma, medical devices, tech and healthcare spheres in particular. Team leads are Michael Wexler who is based in Chicago, Robert Milligan who works from the Los Angeles hub and Katherine Perrelli in the Boston office. Wexler has expertise handling tech-related work including electric vehicles, medical devices and remote storage-related cases; Milligan assists multinational corporations with trade secret, non-compete and data protection work; while Perrelli has a specialism in the enforcement of restrictive covenants and NDAs. Jesse Coleman in Houston has a particular focus on related healthcare disputes, while Dawn Mertineit in Boston is an authority in litigation. Joshua Salinas is a standout associate in LA. Commercial litigation specialists Jesse Miller and Jennifer Fearnow, formerly of Reed Smith LLP, have bolstered the team in San Francisco. Notably, trade secrets specialist Gary Friedman joined the New York team from Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP in February 2024.