Alison Ballard is a Partner and Co-Chair of the Firm’s Trade Secrets, Employee Mobility & Restrictive Covenants Practice Group. Ms. Ballard leads high-stakes disputes over commercial contracts, business torts, restrictive covenants, trade secret misappropriation, and employment issues. She represents Fortune 500 public companies, large corporations, small businesses, executives, and individuals, zealously enforcing rights in contracts and intellectual property. Her experience spans industries, with clients that include global and national leaders in telecommunications, software and SaaS, professional and financial services, manufacturing, distribution and logistics, and food service.
Ms. Ballard has an established record aggressively prosecuting intellectual property theft and poaching of employees and customers, as well as defending both executives and companies against disputes with competitors in the hiring of talent. She has obtained substantial victories in court and in out-of-court negotiations, including injunctive relief and damages in cases of secret misappropriation, employee and customer raiding, unfair competition, and breach of restrictive covenants. Ms. Ballard has depth with the technology sector, advising clients from a publicly traded, global service provider to IT developers and start-ups. She is also well-versed in the technological aspects of investigations and litigation.