Jim McQuade, a partner in the New York office, is a member of the employment law and litigation group.

Orrick’s Employment Law and Litigation group was recently named Labor & Employment Department of the Year in California by The Recorder, the premier source for legal news, in recognition of their significant wins on behalf of leading multinational companies on today’s most complex and challenging employment law matters.
Mr. McQuade represents employers on a broad range of employment matters, with a focus on matters involving misappropriation of trade secrets and the enforcement of non-competition and non-solicitation agreements. Mr. McQuade has extensive experience litigating trade secret matters in federal and state courts and before arbitration forums such as the AAA. He has successfully obtained, or has opposed, injunctive relief in more than 30 cases filed in federal and state courts, involving claims for misappropriation of trade secrets, employee raiding, and violations of post-employment restrictive covenants. Jim has been recognized by Legal 500 U.S. as a Leading Trade Secret Litigation Lawyer (“Top of his field”), and Jim is Co-Editor in Chief of Trade Secrets Watch, an Orrick blog providing the latest analyses and news on trade secrets.

Some other notable engagements include:

Complex Discrimination Litigation. Mr. McQuade successfully defended Wyeth/Pfizer in connection with eight related race discrimination cases filed in federal court, obtaining summary judgment in seven cases and obtaining a complete defense verdict following a two-week jury trial in one of the cases. Mr. McQuade also successfully argued several of these cases on appeal to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
Whistleblower Defense. Mr. McQuade has successfully defended employers against Sarbanes-Oxley and other whistleblower and retaliation claims, including representing Wyeth/Pfizer in Livingston v. Wyeth, which was the first U.S. Court of Appeals decision on what constitutes protected activity under the whistleblower provisions of Sarbanes-Oxley.
Employment Arbitrations for Financial Services Industry Employers. Mr. McQuade has successfully tried a number of employment arbitrations for financial services industry employers before FINRA and AAA.