
Overview
Jessica Mendelson is an associate in the Employment Law Department of Paul Hastings. Her practice focuses on litigation and counseling on a wide range of labor and employment issues.
Employment Law. Ms. Mendelson has experience representing employers in matters involving discrimination, harassment, retaliation, wrongful termination, breach of contract, and wage-and-hour issues.
Employee Mobility and Intellectual Property. Ms. Mendelson’s practice also involves litigating and counseling in employee mobility and intellectual property matters, including trade secret misappropriation, cases and disputes over restrictive covenants. On the transactional side, she prepares employee and executive contracts, focusing on the protection of trade secrets and the prevention of improper customer and employee solicitations.
Ms. Mendelson is the current co-editor of the ABA Business and Corporate Litigation Section’s Recent Developments publication, and co-chair of the ABA Business Law Section’s Publications subcommittee.
Prior to joining Paul Hastings, Ms. Mendelson practiced at a boutique firm in Los Angeles as well as a national firm in San Francisco. Ms. Mendelson received her law degree from UC Hastings College of the Law in 2011. During law school, she served as an extern to the Honorable Judge Marilyn H. Patel of the Northern District of California. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in History, with honors, from Brown University in 2007. Ms. Mendelson is admitted to practice law in California.
Recognitions
- State Bar of California Wiley W. Manual Award for Pro Bono Legal Services, for work provided to Bay Area Legal Aid (2012, 2013)
Education
- University of California, Hastings College of the Law, J.D., 2011
- Brown University, A.B. (honors), 2007
Representations
- Represented a large financial institution in arbitration for trade secret misappropriation, breach of contract, and various tort claims. After arbitration, obtained a complete victory for the company on all claims.
- Successfully obtained favorable settlement for a life sciences company in its lawsuit against a competitor and their senior executive for retaining confidential information after resigning, as well as for raiding employees.
- Successfully obtained dismissal of all claims with prejudice for a university client in a Title IX litigation
- Successfully obtained a favorable settlement for a university in a single-plaintiff discrimination case.
insights
- Employee Mobility: What to Know About Noncompetes - June 20th, 2022
- President Biden Signs Executive Order Seeking to Ban or Limit Non-Compete Agreements - July 14th, 2021
- Appellate Court Invalidates Confidential Information Agreement as an Unlawful Non-Compete - February 5th, 2021
- In the Patent World, Humans Still Rule: USPTO Holds Artificial Intelligence Cannot Be an Inventor of a Patent - May 6th, 2020
- San Francisco Enacts Public Health Emergency Leave Ordinance to Assist Employees Impacted by COVID-19 - April 20th, 2020
- Is IP Theft an Emergency During a Global Pandemic? Maybe Not, According to One Court - April 16th, 2020
- COVID-19 Shelter-in-Place Orders May Be Threatening Trade Secrets: What to Know - April 10th, 2020
Engagement & Publications
- Moderator, ABA Business and Corporate Litigation Section Recent Developments Panel, 2019, 2020 and 2021
- Co-Host, To The Extent That. . . Podcast Series: Key Business Law Developments in Bite Size Pieces
- WebCredenza webinar entitled, "When Employees Leave" and Strafford webinar on "Litigating Trade Secret Misappropriation Claims," 2019
- Law360 article entitled, "Navigating Recent State Efforts to Limit Use of Noncompetes," Law360 (Sept. 25, 2019)
- "Careful, That Slice of Pizza May Be Full of Trade Secrets," Law360 (Oct. 11, 2013)
- "Federal Court Allows Service on Foreign Defendants through Facebook," IP Litigator
- "Be Careful What You Wish For: Urging Your Employees to Use Social Networking as a Marketing Tool May Well Blur the Line as to Who Owns ‘Your’ Trade Secrets," ITech Law Journal
- "Theft of Trade Secrets Act," Computer Law Review Int’l
Involvement
- Member of the GOLD Committee, Brown University
- Member of the UC Hastings Challenge Committee