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William Dugan

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William (Bill) Dugan is a partner in Baker McKenzie’s Employment and Compensation Practice Group, residing in Chicago and New York, chair of the US Disputes Employment Group, co-chair of the North American Employment Disputes Group, and a member of the Steering Committee for the North American Employment and Compensation Practice. Bill has been recognized as a leader in labor and employment law by Chambers, he has been repeatedly recognized for his superior litigation defense in Super Lawyers, and Legal 500 has stated that Bill is a “master in the art of defending corporations in litigation.” Bill represents management in complex litigation in federal and state courts and other tribunals throughout the United States, including trade secret and restrictive covenant matters, class and collective actions, and labor arbitrations. Bill also counsels employers on a wide range of Labor and Employment issues.

Last year, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB)’s General Counsel was relentless in overturning precedential decisions and standards impacting both unionized and non-unionized employers. The result was an overall employee-friendly shift to labor laws encouraging both unionization and concerted employee actions impacting working conditions. Key developments included restricting confidentiality and non-disparagement clauses in employee severance agreements, and attacking certain restrictions in noncompete agreements.

On 8 November 2023, join thought leaders from government, the judiciary, academia, and private practice for this timely gathering on the Georgetown Law campus in Washington, DC. Laws and policy surrounding the protection of trade secrets are changing as technology evolves. In this first-of-its-kind event at Georgetown, intellectual property experts will discuss the following topics: How generative AI is transforming the trade secret landscape, the role of non-competes, protecting against leaks of confidential information, the impact of China’s emerging trade secret protection landscape on global commerce, and the future of trade secrets in the US and abroad.

Between maintaining business continuity and keeping your workforce safe, we know there’s been little time to track the rapidly changing employment, compensation and mobility law landscape — in Illinois, across the US, and globally. This webinar, co-hosted by the Association of Corporate Counsel – Chicago Chapter on 12 January 2023, is designed to ensure that Midwest in-house counsel are up to speed on the top developments of 2022 and are prepared for what’s on the horizon in 2023.

Labor unions seem to be having a resurgence after being on the decline for many years. Employers are concerned with this shift, and are wondering what they can do to within the bounds of the law to keep a direct relationship with their workforce. In this Quick Chat video, Baker McKenzie Labor & Employment lawyers discuss the current labor union landscape, what’s causing this wave of union activity, and some steps employers can take to get out in front of the escalation in union organization.

With increased regulatory scrutiny and the emergence of employee activism, companies have experienced an elevated risk of trade secret disclosure from current or former employees acting as putative whistleblowers. In this episode, Aaron Goodman (Partner, Los Angeles) discussed key factors companies should consider in balancing their trade secret interests against the protections afforded to whistleblowers, with a focus on recent whistleblower laws across the globe.

Late last year, after a month-long trial, a Baker McKenzie team secured a complete defense verdict in favor of our client MedMen and its two co-founders. The trial was the culmination of three years of intense litigation. The result was publicized in Law360, among other outlets.
In this unique three-part webinar series, members of Baker McKenzie’s North America Trial Team will provide insight surrounding this litigation win and the steps taken to achieve it, from inception to defense verdict