White Collar Representation
Since the 1980’s, Nolan, Armstrong & Barton has helped many Silicon Valley employees and companies defend themselves against criminal charges involving trade secret theft (Penal Code section 499c), computer crimes (Penal Code section 502; 18 U.S.C. § 1030), securities violations (15 U.S.C. §§ 78j(b), 78ff; 17 CFR 240.10b-5) import and export violations, false statements charges (18 U.S.C. § 1001), mail fraud (18 U.S.C. § 1341), wire fraud (18 U.S.C. § 1343), money laundering (18 U.S.C. §§ 1956, 1957), tax violations (26 U.S.C. §§ 7201, 7202, 7203, 7206, 7207) and other white collar criminal prosecutions in state and federal courts.
Our firm has handled numerous criminal investigations and jury trials involving the alleged theft of trade secrets from high tech companies. Trade secret prosecutions frequently involve an employee leaving one company to work for a competitor or a start-up company in the same sector. Those in charge of large companies discourage this type of movement, since employees have tremendous value independent of the physical documents and software codes they might possess. Sometimes, the former employer turns to criminal authorities to intimidate and punish departing employees who possess valuable technical knowledge. In one instance, a conviction in a state court was reversed by the Court of Appeals on the basis of insufficient evidence of a protected trade secret. In another case, after five years of litigation and a four and a half month long jury trial, charges of theft of trade secrets from a large Silicon Valley company by a founder of a successful public company ended in a jury verdict of not guilty on all counts. Our firm has been quite successful in state and federal courts with the defense of trade secret cases.
We know that in complex white collar, trade secret theft, and other business prosecutions, a successful defense requires a team approach. The three named partners have combined experience of over 80 years of criminal defense practice. With seven attorneys specializing in criminal defense, Nolan, Armstrong & Barton, LLP has the manpower and trial experience to handle even the most complex, technical and document-intensive business crimes prosecution. We work in cooperation with forensic accountants, software engineers, investigators, and other professionals to obtain the broad range of expertise needed to present the most persuasive defense.