Russell Beck

About Russell

Russell Beck is a business, trade secrets, and employee mobility litigator, nationally recognized for his trade secrets and noncompete experience. He was invited to the Obama White House to develop guidelines for the proper use of noncompetes and has been cited as an expert on trade secrets and noncompetes by The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, the White House, the Treasury Department, National Public Radio, PBS, the BBC World News Service, Le Monde, and many others. Russell has over 30 years of experience as a complex business, trade secrets, and noncompete litigator, representing corporate and individual clients throughout the country in federal and state trial and appellate courts, arbitrations, and mediations. Russell is a leading authority on the law of trade secrets and noncompetes. In addition to his many years assisting his clients (ranging from Fortune 500 companies to individuals) on trade secrets and noncompete matters around the country, he is frequently called upon to advise on trade secrets and noncompete legislation and policy issues. In 2016, he was invited to the White House to participate in working group discussions that led to the development by the White House of a Call to Action on noncompetes. (He was the only private practice lawyer to participate in those discussions.) He was asked to draft one of the first two noncompete bills filed in Massachusetts. For the next nine years, he advised several Massachusetts legislators on potential trade secrets and noncompete legislation, drafted or revised many of the proposed noncompete bills (which became law effective on October 1, 2018), modified the trade secrets bill (which became law effective on October 1, 2018), and provided advice to the Patrick Administration about its proposed noncompete and trade secrets bill. He has assisted a United States Senator on proposed noncompete legislation. He has been quoted and his work cited in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Boston Globe, The Boston Herald, Fortune, and Le Monde, as well as by the White House and the United States Treasury Department. He has also been interviewed on PBS Newshour, On Point (NPR/WBUR), and NECN News. Russell has prepared several resources that are widely used: He authored the book, Trade Secrets Law for the Massachusetts Practitioner (1st ed. MCLE 2019) (covering trade secrets nationally, with a focus on Massachusetts law). He authored the book, Negotiating, Drafting, and Enforcing Noncompetition Agreements and Related Restrictive Covenants (5th ed., MCLE, Inc. 2015) (covering Massachusetts noncompete law). He authored the chapters Trade Secret Misappropriation and Noncompetition Agreements for Intellectual Property Practice (MCLE, Inc. 2004-2016) (covering trade secrets law nationally and Massachusetts noncompete law). He prepared the firm’s widely-used 50 State Noncompete Survey (the first of its kind and updated regularly since 2010). He prepared the firm’s 50 State Trade Secrets Comparison Chart (also the first of its kind). Russell also founded and chaired Foley & Lardner LLP’s Trade Secret / Noncompete Practice and created and teaches Trade Secrets and Restrictive Covenants at Boston University School of Law. (Boston University’s Intellectual Property program, of which Russell’s course is a part, has been ranked in the top 10 in the country by U.S. News and World Reports.)

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