James H. Pooley

Jim Pooley focuses on trade secret law and management, as a testifying expert and advisor. He also acts as co-counsel in trade secret litigation and provides advice to companies that wish to design or improve their information security programs.

Mr. Pooley received his J.D. from Columbia University Law School in 1973. Except for a five year period, during which he ran the international patent system as the senior U.S. diplomat for intellectual property, he has been an active member of the California bar; first as a trial attorney handling trade secret, patent, and technology-related litigation with law firms, and more recently in an individual practice, primarily as a testifying expert on trade secret issues.

Mr. Pooley is an author or co-author of several major IP works, including his treatise Trade Secrets (Law Journal Press); the Patent Case Management Judicial Guide; and the Trade Secret Case Management Judicial Guide (both published by the Federal Judicial Center). His most recent business book is Secrets: Managing Information Assets in the Age of Cyberespionage (2d ed. 2024). The Senate Judiciary Committee relied on him for expert testimony and advice regarding the 2016 Defend Trade Secrets Act. He is a past President of AIPLA; past Chairman of the National Inventors Hall of Fame; and Chair Emeritus of the Sedona Conference Working Group 12 on Trade Secrets. Mr. Pooley was inducted into the IP Hall of Fame in 2016.