Trying a Trade Secret Case: A Road Map

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Trade secret trials challenge and engage all of a trial lawyer’s essential skills and training. Dealing with state-of-the-art technology—intricate circuit designs, sophisticated manufacturing processes, or highly complex formulas—is often a huge challenge, but there are other pitfalls for the unaware lawyer. Special care must be given in these cases to issues of disclosure, discovery, the preparation of witnesses, the handling of experts and juries, and the use of graphics and technology in the courtroom. With legal and other barriers being erected in patent litigation and with the recent passage of the federal Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2016, trade secret cases have moved to the forefront of technology litigation. Trade secrets litigators must understand the unique and critical strategies, requirements, and hazards presented by the trial of a technical trade secret case.