The members of Kirkland & Ellis LLP’s trade secrets practice are regularly engaged by various industry leaders in high-profile litigation, praised for ‘their ability to take ultra-complex tech concepts and distill them for judges or a jury’. Acting as both plaintiff and defense counsel, the team handles a great amount of competitor disputes, often involving business-critical elements and large monetary claims. ’Exceptional’ attorneys Adam Alper in San Francisco and Michael De Vries, based in Los Angeles, stand out for their extensive experience in litigating theft of trade secrets issues and obtaining million-dollar damages. New York’s Dale Cendali and Leslie Schmidt leverage patent and trademark law expertise; in the same office, Joshua Simmons is recommended for injunctive orders; Sharre Lotfollahi in LA is skilled in restraining orders; Christopher Lawless, also in LA, is knowledgeable in copyright matters; and Akshay Deoras operates out of the San Francisco office and is proficient in competitor-versus-competitor litigation.

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Accolades

Client satisfaction: Lawyer & team quality

Client satisfaction: Sector knowledge

Testimonials

Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.

'The team has been generous with their time and availability—including at the partner level—often traveling to convene the full team for in-person discussions or working sessions at our on-site locations.'
'We contacted the firm for a massive, almost decade-long global litigation effort against a key competitor that misappropriated our trade secrets and infringed our IP. The K&E team has been outstanding throughout—smart, strategic, tireless, and relentless in their pursuit of justice on our behalf. Their ability to take ultra-complex tech concepts and distil them for judges or a jury is second to none. For a large, bet-the-company trade secrets or patent litigation, I would pick this team without hesitation.'
'Adam Alper and Michael De Vries are exceptional and lead a team of very strong lawyers. Over the many years of our global litigation, we have had some lawyers on the team come and go, but the quality has never wavered. Each lawyer has been skilled, attentive to our matter, always available, and focused.'

Key clients

Air Comm Corporation LLC
Comet Technologies USA Inc.
Deloitte Consulting LLP
International Business Machines Corporation
Lupin Atlantis Holdings
MaxLinear
Motorola Solutions, Inc.
Oracle America Inc.
PDD Holdings Inc. and Whaleco, Inc.
State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company
The Dow Chemical Company
The Trizetto Group Inc.

Lawyers

Hall of Fame

The lawyers at the very top of the profession, widely known and respected by peers and clients for their longstanding involvement in market-leading work.