Jordan Rice

Jordan Rice’s practice focuses on business disputes and intellectual property litigation.  He has a particular expertise in trade-secret litigation.  Mr. Rice represents both plaintiffs and defendants before trial courts, intermediate appellate courts, and the U.S. Supreme Court. 

His recent representations include successfully defeating a motion for summary judgment on behalf of an aeronautical engineering firm in a federal trade-secret dispute.  That case is set for trial in early 2024.  Mr. Rice drafted numerous successful briefs in other high-stakes cases, including in two merits cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, a motion to dismiss on behalf of a major energy infrastructure company, and an appeal from a grant of summary judgment that revived professional-negligence claims. 

Mr. Rice gets results, and clients have praised his “quick mastery” of new subject matters and “his ability to describe arcane nuances of the law.”  In one case, Mr. Rice and his colleagues at MoloLamken were retained when his clients were already subject to a preliminary injunction for breach of a noncompete agreement.  The case concluded with a favorable settlement that permitted the clients to build their new business venture.  In another matter, Mr. Rice achieved a favorable settlement when, prior to MoloLamken’s engagement, the case had languished for more than a decade  In 2022, Mr. Rice first-chaired a federal jury trial, pro bono, on behalf of an inmate that resulted in a jury verdict and an award of actual damages, punitive damages, and attorneys’ fees.

Prior to joining MoloLamken, Mr. Rice served as a law clerk to the Honorable Amy J. St. Eve of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. He also served as a law clerk to the Honorable Albert Diaz of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.

Before attending law school, Mr. Rice worked in the legal department of a large technology company in California.

Representative Matters

• An aeronautical engineering firm in a trade-secret misappropriation lawsuit
• A healthcare company in a lawsuit for breach of a non-competition agreement
• Advising a pharmaceutical company regarding trade-secret issues and non-competition agreements in connection with executive hiring
• A key witness in a criminal trade-secret trial
• A medical device company in a successful constitutional challenge to the Patent Trial and Appeal Board at the merits stage in the Supreme Court
• An animal-rights organization in the successful defense of a California law against a dormant Commerce Clause challenge in the Supreme Court
• A class representative in defending a settlement at the merits stage in the Supreme Court
• A software company in a petition for certiorari in the Supreme Court regarding the effect of foreign-country judgments
• A public employee union in an amicus brief before the Supreme Court in a First Amendment challenge to fair-share fees
• Former directors and executives in a habeas petition asserting Brady claims and prosecutorial interference
• A criminal defendant in an appeal of his sentence before the Seventh Circuit
• A telecommunications company in an appeal regarding auditor negligence
• A transportation company in a bankruptcy adversary proceeding
• A consumer products company in a bankruptcy adversary proceeding involving more than a billion dollars of corporate debt
• A former director and executive in a securities lawsuit
• A technology company in defending a patent infringement judgment from a petition for certiorari in the Supreme Court
• An energy infrastructure company in a third-party breach-of-contract action
• Advising clients regarding Appointments Clause challenges
• A technology start-up in an arbitration against a bank
• The former General Counsel of a green-energy company in securities litigation
• A former FBI attorney in a criminal prosecution by the Department of Justice’s Office of Special Counsel

Publications

• Barriers to Challenging Sanctions Imposed Under the Protecting American Intellectual Property Act, Law360 (May 17, 2023)
• Trade Secrets in the U.S.: What to Expect Under the Protecting American Intellectual Property Act of 2022 (Apr. 2023) (presentation to over 100 Chinese attorneys and businesses)
• Trade Secrets and State Sovereign Immunity, National Law Journal (June 17, 2022)
• Appraising the Unknown: How Courts Calculate Theft of Trade Secret Damages, Corporate Disputes Magazine (Apr.-June 2022 issue)
• Increased Forum Shopping for US Discovery Likely After Guo, Law360 (July 22, 2020)
• Contention Interrogatories, The Circuit Rider (Apr. 2018)