Elizabeth M. Pipkin

Elizabeth M. Pipkin represents many Silicon Valley tech companies and executives in sophisticated and many-layered litigation. Yet many of her cases are in state courts rather than federal.

"I think that Santa Clara County Superior Court, in particular, is somewhat ground zero for a lot of the cutting-edge litigation in Silicon Valley," Pipkin said.

One striking example was her representing Apple when it brought a trade-secrets case against a well-known microprocessor engineer for allegedly stealing trade secrets and chip designs when he quit to start his own company. He later sold his company to Qualcomm for more than $1 billion. Pipkin settled the case in April. Apple Inc. v. Williams, 19CV352866 (Sta. Clara Super. Ct., filed Dec. 10, 2019).

Not all matters stay put. She represents Seagate Technology in several cases, including one with a former contractor who, at one point, owed the company $15 million from a settlement of previous litigation. When he didn't pay, Pipkin obtained a judgment against him for $24 million. "And interestingly enough, he is now trying to collaterally attack that judgment through a case in India," she said. The firm is assisting Indian counsel with the arbitration. Seagate Technology v. Goel, 18CV328929 (Sta. Clara Super. Ct., filed May 31, 2018).

In another Seagate case, she took over a class action after a class was certified. She moved to decertify and won. "Those motions are fairly rare, and we were thrilled that we were able to prevail," she said. The plaintiffs have appealed. Nalick v. Seagate Technology, CGC15547787 (S.F. Super. Ct., filed Sept. 4, 2015).

She represented a solar panel company in a dispute over a failed deal to develop 35 solar projects. The fight grew into three separate cases, one each in state court, federal court and arbitration. Pipkin won summary judgments in the federal and arbitration matters and is now appealing the state court loss.

While most of Pipkin's clients are companies, she does also represent individuals. For instance, she represented a former Theranos employee who testified in Elizabeth Holmes' criminal trial.

Occasionally, she and her firm take on family law-related matters for Valley executives. She represented the CEO of Bill.com after his ex-wife unsuccessfully sought a share of a second company he'd started. Pipkin and her team handled the case on appeal and won. Corcoran v. Lacerte, H047476 (Cal. App. 6th, dec'd. Aug. 23, 2022).

--Don DeBenedictis