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It began with a Boston law giant suing another person for theft. Then, two weeks later, a counter-claimed conspiracy followed.
Two competitive Boston law firms say they may be entitled to financial compensation — between each other.
Sokolove Law, founded in 1979 by Jim Sokolove, is suing former employees Keith Glover and Jason Stone Haffice attorney (JSIL), who now serves as chief operating officer, allegedly the chief operating officer of the trade secrets. In a complaint filed on August 13, Sokolov claimed that the case boils down to “wholesale theft of business models.”
The company claims that the company claims to have “from a mattress salesman to a director of Sokolov” six-figure legal operations professional, who allegedly copied the company’s “digital operation script” and brought it to JSIL after joining JSIL. Sokolove attributes the so-called stolen information to the company's success and the recent growth of JSIL.
“Before the defendant illegally used Sokolove's trade secrets, JSIL was a 20-person company with two offices,” the complaint read. “JSIL has almost tripled in size since Glover handed over the stolen material, driven by Sokolove's trade secrets.”
The secret of theft stems mainly from the case manager's internal website, with complaints saying Glover had completely copied it, and a series of documents detailing the company's internal procedures. A Sokolove employee allegedly found the site was still in use in April but was not used by the company.
Sokolove claims that by using trade secrets, JSIL created a “digital signal” to remind the company's servers that have left over 53,000 records of unauthorized use of the information over the past two years. After further investigation, the company allegedly found that JSIL employees in all offices visited the copied website every day.
Stone's company also allegedly copied and reused Sokolov's branded materials and marketing campaigns.
When Sokolove discovered the record and faced Glover, he allegedly admitted to stealing inside information. However, he allegedly claimed that the materials were just “templates.” The complaint says that after Glover and JSIL face to face, they allegedly moved the website template, so Sokolove will no longer notify them of use.
Despite the request, JSIL representatives said the lack of details.
Barry Pollack, an attorney representing JSIL, told JSIL that the obvious description of the complaint is a meaningful description of any particular content that Jason Stone harms the attorney actually uses. ” Boston Business Magazine In a statement Tuesday.
Sokolove's attorney Russell Beck did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday night.
Less than two weeks after Sokolove filed the complaint, JSIL formally launched a counterattack against deceptive practices and conspiracies. The complaint filed in a counterclaim Tuesday in a counterclaim alleges Sokolove is part of the company's business model as a “regular bait and switch” strategy, serving as a call center for co-advisors, rather than relying on practicing attorneys.
“Sokolove Law's illegal business model includes unfair and deceptive behavior and omissions that are directly foreseeable and continue to cause damage to the damage to the Stone by Sokolove Law,” the complaint reads.
According to JSIL, these so-called “deceptive behaviors and omissions” include the use of “fictional third parties” for advertising, as well as operating several other professional call center websites that secretly incorporate Sokolove. JSIL also claims that Sokolove misled clients to hire law firms tangled by fraud and other unethical behavior.
The complaint also claims that Sokolove conspired with other companies to engage in “unfair competition” and directly hurt JSIL. Although Stone’s complaint did not directly resolve Sokolove’s lawsuit, the company noted that the company “posed an obvious threat to Stone PC about its marketing practices” and used Glover’s move as an “excusation” to “deprecise” to “deprecise” JSIL.
In a statement from the Boston Business Magazine published Wednesday, Sokolov called JSIL's allegations “unfounded” and the complaint was to “distract” from the initial lawsuit.
“Despite many requirements, Sokolove has not yet determined anything specific to JSIL actually uses, anywhere except JSIL,” Pollack also told Boston.com on behalf of JSIL on the counter. “I understand Sokolove has issued a statement predicting that the judge will be with him, but does not deny that they further described in the complaint as a sponsor or a site participant.”
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