Shaila Rahman Diwan

Partner

New York

[email protected]

Read full biography at www.orrick.com

Shaila Rahman Diwan fiercely defends Fortune 500 technology and financial companies from a range of complex commercial litigation.

Regardless of the jurisdiction, fact pattern or public scrutiny, Shaila’s precisely crafted litigation strategies deliver the best possible results for her clients. She has handled a significant number of trials, including the recent Johnson & Johnson talc litigation. In addition to product liability litigation, she represents clients in various white collar, securities and intellectual property matters. She also uses her with experience conducting internal investigations and developing compliance programs to help clients manage risk and avoid litigation.

In addition to her commercial litigation practice, Shaila devotes her time to defending the rights of women and children in various pro bono civil rights cases. In representing the class of plaintiffs in Flores et al. v. Barr et. al, she ensured the U.S. Customs and Border Protection live up to its obligations under the Flores Agreement, which requires children held in custody be provided basic hygiene products, nutrition and adequate sleeping accommodations. She also served as lead counsel for a religious hate crime victim, in a civil suit against her attacker.

Posts by: Shaila R. Diwan

Trade Secrets and Start-Ups: What to Do When Secrets Walk Out the Front Door

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Start-ups often face a complex relationship with their trade secrets. Many of the strengths of early stage start-ups, such as collaborative work among a small number of business partners and open access to proprietary information by all team members, can obfuscate clear ownership rights and confidentiality obligations concerning trade secrets. The first employees of a company will also often feel a strong sense of ownership over his work, which can sometimes lead to the employee considering work developed for the company as his property, rather than the company’s. While proprietary information is often the lifeblood of the business, it can be expensive for young companies to protect. However, there are a number of inexpensive and overlooked best practices that can safeguard trade secrets without slowing down productivity or altering the company’s culture. READ MORE →

ECONOMIC ESPIONAGE AND PROTECTING TRADE SECRETS: Ninth Circuit Holds That Reasonable Measures to Guard Technology are Sufficient

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How can you protect your trade secrets from a vast and well-concealed international effort to steal those secrets? What constitutes a “reasonable” effort to protect that information where at least one competitor may already have the information?  The Ninth Circuit recently opined on these matters in the ongoing saga of U.S. v. Liew.

In 2014, Walter Liew and his company, USA Performance Technology, Inc., were convicted of multiple offenses, including claims under the Economic Espionage Act and conveying misappropriated trade secrets to a third party. The trade secrets related to DuPont’s technology for producing titanium dioxide, which is used in a wide range of products such as paint and Oreo cookies. READ MORE →