Russell J. Gaspar

Areas of Specialization

• Business Torts
• Contract Disputes
• Employment Law
• High Tech Business Law
• Litigation

"The issues we deal with in the courtroom are technically sophisticated. We have a small window of time to educate a judge and jury about a complex set of facts. If we aren't comfortable with the technologies or competitive scenarios at stake, we aren't going to be persuasive. Multimedia can be particularly useful when you are trying to communicate an enormous amount of technical information to a jury. To present a compelling case and make a lasting impression, we try to use the best available medium -- whether sophisticated overlay drawings or CD-ROM presentations -- to reinforce the facts."

"Employment and partnership arrangements in the technology sector are particularly complicated because they affect the control of valuable intellectual property and trade secrets. In establishing executive incentives, drafting employment agreements, structuring collaborative partnerships, or terminating employees, the protection of proprietary information is imperative. The best way to prevent litigation is to make sure that every employment agreement and every partnering arrangement is well conceived, defensible, and thorough in protecting the client's competitive intellectual property and know-how."

"My litigation strategy begins with thorough preparation. I try to anticipate every possible contingency, every evidentiary problem that might arise. I know how I'm going to prove every fact, how each piece of evidence will be admitted, and what role each witness will play."

"Discrimination cases tend to be intractable and highly emotional. Employees who believe they have been discriminated against and employers who have been accused aren't quick to settle. We try to prevent employment issues from arising, rather than simply defending them once they've been filed. Our clients know that they can call upon us when they need to take immediate action that will impact on an employment relationship -- firing an employee for cause, implementing a reduction in force, preventing a departing employee from taking proprietary information to a competitor. Because we're accessible and can provide an immediate response when the need arises, most of our clients can prevent unnecessary workplace controversies."
--Russ Gaspar