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Contributors
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Neil Weinrich
Neal F. Weinrich is a shareholder at Berman Fink Van Horn. Neal’s practice focuses on resolving business disputes through litigation, arbitration, and mediation.
The emphasis of Neal’s practice is litigation involving restrictive covenants, trade secrets and other competition-related issues. Neal has represented employers and employees, as both plaintiffs and defendants, in disputes involving covenants not to compete, covenants not to solicit customers, covenants not to recruit employees, and covenants not to disclose confidential information or trade secrets. Neal has also litigated many competition-related disputes involving claims for tortious interference with business, contractual and/or employment relations, breach of fiduciary duty and/or duty of loyalty, deceptive trade practices, defamation, violations of the Computer Systems Protection Act, violations of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, and/or violations of the Stored Communications Act. -
Wendy Wu
Wendy T. Wu is a Principal at Pacific Intelligence & Cyber, where she directs engagements involving cybercrime and data breach response, information security, digital forensics, and intellectual property protection. She previously led the West Region Practice of Stroz Friedberg, an industry-leading global cybersecurity and risk management firm.
Wendy was an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California, where she served in the Cyber and Intellectual Property Crimes Section. She also served as a member of the Los Angeles Electronic Crimes Task Force, an inter-agency cybercrime response organization. As an AUSA, Wendy conducted and supervised investigations and prosecutions of computer intrusions, extortionate denial of service attacks, computer and Internet fraud, criminal copyright infringement, theft of trade secrets, cyber exploitation of victims, financial fraud, and identity theft. Among her notable cyber cases, Wendy was lead counsel in the first criminal trial involving violations of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act; prosecuted the operator of the now-defunct “revenge porn” website, isanyoneup[.]com; and supervised an international investigation involving the use of hired hackers to launch computer attacks against healthcare companies. -
James Vaughn
James D. Vaughn, a Managing Director of iDiscovery Solutions (iDS), is a court-recognized expert who has given testimony in nearly 70 cases involving topics such as evidence preservation, documentation of events, and computer forensic methodologies and procedures. In addition to being an EnCase Certified Examiner (EnCE), Mr. Vaughn is certified by the International Association of Computer Investigative Specialists (IACIS) as a Certified Forensic Computer Examiner (CFCE).
Mr. Vaughn has trained hundreds of law enforcement officers, attorneys, and other examiners on computer forensics and high-technology related issues involving best practices and methodologies. He has 16 years law enforcement experience, has co-developed computer forensic courses for the California Department of Justice, and has been involved in high profile cases throughout his career.
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Lea Dearing
A Shareholder at Berman Fink Van Horn, Lea counsels companies regarding disputes that arise in every day operations. Lea has experience assisting businesses with a wide range of issues, including internal investigations, employment matters, real estate disputes and construction related claims. While she prides herself on finding ways to keep her clients out of the courtroom, when needed, she also offers her clients a sound strategy to prevail at trial. Her creative problem solving is also integral to her transactional practice, which includes experience ranging from negotiating terms and conditions and transportation contracts to reviewing employment manuals and contracts.
Lea is a summa cum laude graduate of Texas Wesleyan University School of Law and received her Bachelor of Arts in International Business from University of Georgia. A recipient of the Super Lawyers Rising Star award, Lea has also held several leadership positions within the Dallas Bar Association and Attorneys Serving the Community.
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John Barry
John P. Barry is a partner in the Labor & Employment Law Department and co-head of the Non-Compete & Trade Secrets Group.
John is an experienced trial lawyer who has appeared in courts across the U.S. He is sought out by clients to litigate and/or provide counsel for their most sensitive, sophisticated and important restrictive covenant, trade secret and employment matters. He is able to quickly dissect the issues and recognize the pressure points of how a case will unfold before a judge, jury, or administrative agency. He regularly "jumps in" to assist clients with emergent situations involving an executive's departure, a mass exodus (or raid), the planned hire of an employee or team of employees from a competitor, or claims of discrimination, harassment, retaliation or the like.
John graduated cum laude from Harvard University and received his JD from the Boston University School of Law.
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Scott McDonald
M. Scott McDonald has represented clients in all areas of employment and labor law for more than 20 years. He focuses specifically on:
• Employment contracts
• Wrongful termination litigation
• Unfair competition disputes and trade secret protection
Among his notable successes, Scott secured injunctions enforcing non-compete agreements in three consecutive cases involving quantitative analysts in the high frequency trading industry. He led teams in complex multi-jurisdictional disputes that resulted in the protection of millions of dollars of intellectual property. He has served as counsel for amicus curiae that successfully pursued arguments for the use of a new non-compete test and partial reversal of the Texas Supreme Court's interpretation of Texas law on non-compete agreements. In another precedent setting matter, he helped design a creative trade secret protection argument that established a new test for pre-lawsuit deposition actions in Texas.
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James Witz
James M. Witz is a trial lawyer who has experience with a wide range of employment issues. He is widely recognized for his knowledge in the area of non-competition and trade secret disputes, and cases involving emergency and injunctive relief. He is the co-chair of the firm's Unfair Competition and Trade Secret Practice. Jim has obtained multiple seven figure trial verdicts in high-profile trade secret and restrictive covenant cases in courts around the United States. Jim successfully argued a trade secret matter before a Florida state court jury receiving a total judgment of approximately $2.4 million. In addition, he secured a $1.9 million verdict after a bench trial before the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. In addition, in 2015, after a one week jury trial, Jim obtained a $2.1 million verdict in Minnesota state court on behalf of his client, one of the largest verdicts ever awarded in a restrictive covenant matter in that state, as well as an award of attorneys’ fees. The case was settled prior to appeal with payment of the judgment in full as well as substantial attorneys’ fees.