Koray J. Bulut

Koray J. Bulut

SAN FRANCISCO - Koray J. Bulut leads Goodwin’s employment law practice in California, handling complex matters involving trade secrets and employee mobility, unfair competition, wage and hour disputes, employment agreements and more. Since the pandemic, he has advised clients on layoffs, furloughs and legal and tax issues arising from remote work arrangements.

The genie can’t be put back in the bottle when it comes to remote work, Bulut said. When offices shuttered during the pandemic, workers scattered across the country. Even as offices have reopened, it seems remote work is here to stay. But employers must ensure legal compliance when hiring employees from other states or face significant fines and penalties.

“That’s something everyone has on their to-do list, though it’s not very high up and it sounds very cumbersome,” he said. “Companies have to start thinking about where do we have employees and are we compliant with the various states’ employment laws? States are getting much more divergent in terms of their requirements.”

On the litigation side, Bulut recently represented mobile banking company Step Mobile and newly hired executive Jordan Nichols in a complex multi-jurisdictional dispute with competitor Greenlight. Step Mobile, Inc. v. Greenlight Financial Technology, Inc. 21-CV-383407 (Santa Clara Sup. Ct., field June 18, 2021).

Greenlight sued former employee Nichols in Georgia for misappropriating trade secrets and secured a preliminary injunction barring him from employment at Step Mobile. Goodwin moved to dismiss that action and simultaneously sued Greenlight in California state court, alleging its tactics violated California public policy favoring employee mobility and constituted unfair business practices.

“They were trying to use contractual provisions to prevent a California employer from getting the best talent. We were going to bring this to a head, bring it to a stop. We were able to get the matter resolved in a way that probably made that point,” Bulut said.

The California state court granted Step Mobile’s temporary restraining order, preventing Greenlight from attempting to enforce the Georgia injunction in California. The Georgia federal court granted Step Mobile’s motion to dismiss, and Goodwin handled the 11th Circuit appeal of that dismissal.

“Those two cases, each with a different posture–us being on the offense and also on the defense in the other action–it shows that you can’t really dabble in trade secret or employment mobility work,” Bulut said. “You either know the law inside out and the tactics to use, or you’ll drown pretty quickly. It speaks to our nimbleness and ability to launch when necessary to get a good result for the client.”

--Jennifer Chung Klam