Troutman Pepper Launches Corp. Espionage Response Team
Evan Gibbs and Will Taylor, co-leaders of Troutman Pepper’s Corporate Espionage Response Team, were quoted in the October 13, 2023 Law360 article, " Troutman Pepper Launches Corp. Espionage Response Team."
Evan Gibbs, a partner in the firm's national labor and employment practice group, and Will Taylor, a partner who handles commercial litigation, will oversee the response team, the firm said on Thursday. The group will focus its efforts on assisting clients who have had their private information taken without authorization, whether by an insider or third-party.
"Workplace digitization, increased remote-work arrangements and inexpensive data storage have created unprecedented challenges for companies when it comes to maintaining data security, trade secrets and proprietary information," Gibbs said in a statement. "We formed this essential task force of attorneys to help clients with this growing threat."
Gibbs added that corporate espionage represents economic damages of billions of dollars annually. He identified the need for a dedicated team, as such matters often require a myriad of expertise within labor and employment, intellectual property, business litigation, white-collar crime, antitrust, cybersecurity and privacy, along with general digital forensics.
Gibbs, who works out of Atlanta, partnered with Boston-based Taylor to form the task force, which now makes up 17 members across the firm. In the announcement, the pair emphasized the need to quickly respond—sometimes entering court the following day after a breach – to best handle instances of corporate espionage.
"Having an established group at Troutman Pepper with the background and necessary expertise to quickly mobilize is a real comfort to clients," Taylor said. "When a client contacts us with an issue, we can send up the bat-signal to quickly bring together the right resources."