Practical Tips: Keeping Trade Secrets Safe During Litigation – Texas Supreme Court Edition

Last week, the Texas Supreme Court provided its first opinion interpreting the Texas Uniform Trade Secrets Act in a case involving an issue that often causes discomfort to lawyers on both sides of the "v" in trade secret misappropriation cases: how much of their trade secrets do plaintiffs have to disclose to enable the defendant to adequately defend itself? The opinion in In re M-I L.L.C. d/b/a M-I Swaco, 2016 WL 2981342 (Tex., May 20, 2016) demonstrates this tension. In that case, the Texas Supreme Court, on a petition for a writ of mandamus, held that the trial court abused its discretion by (i) refusing to exclude the defendant's designated representative from the courtroom during a hearing where the plaintiff's trade secrets would be disclosed; and (ii) ordering the production of an affidavit containing the plaintiff's trade secrets without first conducting an in camera review.