The chief working officer of the billion-greenback global law agency Proskauer Rose abruptly remaining the company — and nation — with confidential data which include the firm’s very-delicate “black ebook,” according to a new court submitting.
The white-shoe Manhattan legislation agency — which has repped the NBA, European soccer groups, and personal fairness companies — sued Jonathan O’Brien, 55, in Manhattan Federal Court, a week soon after he place in his see and reported he was heading to the East African nation of Mauritius, in accordance to the lawsuit filed Tuesday.
O’Brien’s resignation arrived just times just after he acquired his vacation bonus. When questioned if he would stick all over to assistance the business changeover, O’Brien stated, “I owe the organization absolutely nothing,” the organization claims.
He also told a colleague that the organization would be “very angry” when they realized in which he’d be performing next, in accordance to the lawsuit.
In the meantime, O’Brien had been hatching a approach to steal company secrets and techniques for at minimum a month, the company alleges. He copied confidential information on to a flash drive labeled “2022 tax documents” and deleted hundreds of his emails, the fit alleges.
The company explained its laptop or computer programs are programmed to avoid copying facts onto removable drives, like USB equipment, but claimed O’Brien exploited his large-position placement by telling an IT staff to override the stability evaluate so he could give facts to an outdoors advisor.
The organization later uncovered a record on O’Brien’s personal computer of data he intended to steal –including the firm’s fiscal data and “Black Guide Binder,” which contains specific documents on how a lot Proskauer pays it partners and spends its earnings, according to court filings.
“Proskauer is nearing its 150th anniversary as a legislation company,” according to the submitting. “The Agency is unaware of any staff (significantly much less an officer) ever acting in this sort of a corrupt, debased, and illegal fashion.”
“Mr. O’Brien understood this data would be highly practical to Proskauer’s competition, as it would enable them to proficiently concentrate on and recruit Proskauer’s partners, practice groups, and clientele,” the lawsuit claimed.
O’Brien, a graduate of the College of Exeter in England, is not an attorney and experienced been COO for additional than 5 many years immediately after he was to begin with introduced on as the main money officer in 2015.
The firm is asking a choose to “block O’Brien from misusing its data” and is looking for unspecified damages.
Proskauer Rose did not react to requests for remark, and O’Brien could not be achieved.
