Register Now

Title: What Every Attorney Needs to Know About No-Poach Agreements, and Criminal and Civil Liability Under Antitrust Laws

No-poach agreements are agreements between companies to not solicit each other’s employees, and wage-fixing agreements are agreements to fix wages or other terms of employment; both are increasingly the focus of government enforcement. Given the many dynamic areas and ever-changing landscape of employment law, as well as many recent developments in this new no-poach space, not all practitioners are aware of the government prosecutions, criminal penalties, and civil liability associated with no-poach agreements. Featuring a contracts/employment-law practitioner, in-house counsel, antitrust practitioner, and former federal prosecutor, this CLE webinar will provide an overview of no-poach and wage-fixing agreements, enforcement activity regarding companies’ arrangements, and best practices for outside counsel and in-house counsel to help clients comply with no-poach laws and avoid criminal prosecution and related civil suits.

Presented by NAPABA's Labor & Employment Committee

This program has been approved for 1.00 hour of general credit by the State Bar of California and 1.00 hour of areas of professional practice credit (including transitional credit) by the New York State CLE Board.  Jones Day is a State Bar of California MCLE approved provider, as well as an accredited provider in New York.  Application for CLE credit in other states will be made as needed, subject to state CLE regulations. 

Panelists

• Ireneo A. Reus III (Moderator), Managing Attorney, The Reus Law Firm — Ireneo A. Reus III is an AV-rated business attorney in Long Beach, California. Before establishing his own law firm, Mr. Reus worked for a civil litigation firm, a public finance law firm, and the General Counsel's Office of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. He earned Bachelor of Arts Degrees at Whittier College in 2001, where he double majored in Economics and Political Science, and was nominated for the Rhodes Scholarship. He earned his Juris Doctor from UCLA School of Law in 2004, where he was a Member of the UCLA Moot Court Honors Program, and Senior Articles Editor of the UCLA Journal of Law & Technology. In 2018, Mr. Reus became the first Filipino American to serve as the President of the UCLA School of Law Alumni Association since the law school was founded in 1949. Prior to joining the Executive Committee of the Labor & Employment Section of the California Lawyers Association (CLA), Mr. Reus served in leadership positions in the State Bar of California, including as the first Filipino American in the State Bar’s history to serve as Chair of the California Young Lawyers Association in 2012. He also served on the State Bar’s Council on Access & Fairness and Task Force on Admissions Regulation Reform. In 2016, the Los Angeles Law Library featured Mr. Reus in an exhibit and documentary film titled “Opening the Door: Personal Stories of Groundbreaking Los Angeles Lawyers and Judges.” Mr. Reus has presented MCLE programs at ABA conferences in Tokyo, Japan and Washington, D.C., and at several NAPABA Conventions throughout the United States on topics such as ethics, employment law, civil litigation, social media, and business development. He served on the ABA’s Standing Committee on Continuing Legal Education from 2019 to 2022. He has also served as a contributing author in the ABA’s best-selling book, “Careers in International Law” (5th Edition), and the “State Bar of California’s Guide to Growing and Managing a Law Office” (2012). Mr. Reus is also a member of CLA’s inaugural delegation to the ABA House of Delegates and has been elected as a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation.

• Jayna Rust, Counsel, Thompson Coburn LLP — Jayna Marie Rust advises companies, transportation authorities, educational institutions, and other entities regarding their rights and obligations when doing business with or receiving financial assistance from the Federal Government. She counsels clients on contract- and grant-administration matters, including analyzing and negotiating subcontractor and subrecipient agreements, teaming agreements, joint-venture agreements, and mentor-protégé agreements. She also assists clients with assessing and complying with employment-related laws and regulations specific to contractors and grant recipients. She also works with her fellow attorneys and clients to help the clients recover money owed under Federal contracts, protest problematic contract awards, defend against competitors' protests, and challenge adverse agency actions. In doing so, she represents them before agencies, the Government Accountability Office (GAO), Boards of Contract Appeals, the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, as necessary. Jayna is a Counsel at Thompson Coburn LLP and professor of Government Contracts Advocacy at the George Washington University Law School.

• Rasha Gerges Shields, Partner, Jones Day — Rasha Gerges Shields, a partner at Jones Day, is a former federal prosecutor with more than 20 years of trial and appellate experience. She represents companies and executives in State AG and DOJ investigations, white collar matters, and complex civil litigation. She also assists companies in conducting internal investigations, developing effective compliance programs, and responding to cybercrimes, including those involving trade secrets. Rasha regularly speaks on white-collar crime issues and has been included among the “2022 Leaders of Influence: Minority Attorneys” and the “Most Influential Lawyers: White Collar and Cyber Crime” lists by the Los Angeles Business Journal. Rasha served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Central District of California for more than seven years, including as deputy chief of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force Section. Rasha is active in the community, serves on several non-profit boards, is global co-chair of the Women’s White Collar Defense Association’s diversity committee, and co-leads police reform efforts with the LAPD and UCLA. Rasha received her bachelor’s degree from UC Irvine, and her law degree from UCLA. Following graduation, Rasha clerked with the Honorable Gary A. Feess in the Central District of California, and the Honorable Ferdinand F. Fernandez in the Ninth Circuit.

• Erica Lai, Corporate Counsel, Northrop Grumman — Erica Lai manages a wide range of commercial litigation and arbitration matters for Northrop Grumman, including class actions, the False Claims Act, environmental litigation, insurance coverage, and complex commercial disputes. Prior to moving in-house, she practiced at Covington & Burling LLP and Cohen & Gresser LLP, focusing on antitrust, class actions, and white collar defense. She has counseled corporate and governmental clients litigating at all levels of federal and state trial and appellate courts, and federal agency proceedings. Erica’s broad litigation experience includes price-fixing and attempted monopolization claims under the Sherman Act, commercial contractual disputes in the financial services, utility, and railroad industries, and False Claims Act and Foreign Corrupt Practices Act defense. In 2020, the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA) recognized Erica with its Best Under 40 Award. Super Lawyers named Erica as a Rising Star for antitrust litigation in Washington, D.C. from 2019 to 2021. Erica clerked for Judges John M. Walker, Jr. (2d Cir.) and Michael M. Baylson (E.D.Pa.), graduated cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania Law School, where she was on the Editorial Board of the University of Pennsylvania Law Review and a member of the Order of the Coif. She also has a Public Policy Analysis Bachelor of Arts degree, magna cum laude, from Pomona College.

• Bonnie Lau, Partner, Morrison Foerster — Bonnie Lau is a dynamic trial lawyer and the co-head of Morrison & Foerster’s San Francisco litigation department. Clients commend Bonnie as “absolutely outstanding; a practical, responsive and adept adviser” and “a fantastic lawyer, detail-oriented and able to handle complex matters with ease and good humor." (Chambers USA 2022.) 

Bonnie helps clients navigate internal and government antitrust investigations, enforcement proceedings, and class action litigation in federal and state courts. Bonnie has tried several bench and jury trials to verdict, and recently served as lead trial counsel in an antitrust class action jury trial that was tried twice due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Bonnie represents companies in antitrust and related complex litigation involving claims of price-fixing, output suppression, monopolization, refusal to deal, predatory pricing, and group boycott, as well as in connection with patent and IP infringement matters. 

Bonnie was most recently named as a 2021 “Top Antitrust Lawyer” by the Daily Journal, 2021 “Antitrust/Competition Lawyer of the Year” by Euromoney America’s Women in Business Law Awards, and an “Up and Coming” attorney for Antitrust – California by Chambers USA in 2022. 

Bonnie also devotes herself to promoting diversity and inclusion in the legal community, currently serving as co-chair of the Women’s Leadership Network for the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association; co-chair of the Board of the ABA Antitrust Section’s Women.Connected; and outgoing chair of the Leadership Council for Legal Diversity Alumni. For her contributions, Bonnie was named to the National Association of Women Lawyers’ (NAWL) Rising List for 2022 and selected by Chambers Diversity and Inclusion as a 2022 finalist for “Lawyer of the Year.”