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Information Technology Litigation
Our attorneys frequently represent parties in disputes that arise from large-scale software implementations and we have compiled an impressive track record of favorable results in challenging cases. Major software companies and their vendors recognize that our litigators understand how IT systems work and are adept at evaluating the causes of functionality and performance issues on enterprise resource planning (“ERP”) projects. In a recent case, a developer responding to an arbitration claim concerning an aborted ERP implementation retained Mandell Menkes to reassess the procedural and substantive posture of the dispute. The claimant then agreed to waive its arbitration demand and proceed in federal court. When the case resumed, we quickly obtained a dismissal of the plaintiff’s tort claims through a motion to dismiss.
During discovery, our litigation team was able to link the source of the plaintiff’s claim to an interoperability problem between different software packages—an issue that the developer’s software license expressly disclaimed. Because we were able to isolate the problem and force the plaintiff to admit the interoperability issue at deposition, the district court entered summary judgment against the plaintiff. The United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit later affirmed the judgment. In most failed implementation cases, the origins of functionality and performance issues are technical in nature and can be difficult to identify. Our technical background and experience in analyzing the root cause of such problems often allows us to formulate creative strategies to short-circuit the litigation process and narrow the issues in contention.
Mandell Menkes has extensive experience in representing clients at the intersection of law and technology. As national litigation counsel for one of the world’s largest software development and information technology consulting firms, we have prosecuted and defended numerous multi-million dollar claims involving the design, development, implementation and support of sophisticated enterprise management software systems.
The firm’s IT practice is not limited to the software industry. We believe that an understanding of how law is affected by technology is vital to business in general and our clients in particular. Mandell Menkes attorneys are leaders in this rapidly developing area of the law, having counseled our clients on matters involving E-commerce, E-discovery (including litigation readiness and post-litigation offensive and defensive discovery strategies) and the emerging regulatory framework relating to data security and privacy. Our attorneys have been equally active in bar and other professional organizations, writing, speaking and teaching others about how advances in technology have affected the legal landscape.