Audra A. Dial

Audra A. Dial

Audra Dial is an experienced litigator specializing in enforcing restrictive employment covenants, protecting trade secrets, litigating patent disputes, and defending class actions. Ms. Dial has enforced restrictive employment covenants against employees attempting to violate their nondisclosure agreements by working for competitors of their former employers. Ms. Dial has also obtained temporary restraining orders and permanent injunctions against former employees who took their former employer's trade secrets and attempted to use them to compete with their former employers, and she has obtained damages awards in connection with those disputes. Ms. Dial has defended clients in consumer class actions and has successfully negotiated settlements of such disputes. She was selected as one of Georgia's Rising Stars SuperLawyers in 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009.

Selected Experience

· Obtained jury verdict enforcing Lockheed Martin's trade secret rights, including a finding of willful misuse of trade secrets and bad faith litigation, in a closely watched lawsuit against competitor L-3 Communications Corporation. See Lockheed Martin Corp. v. L-3 Commc'ns Corp., 2008 WL 4791804 (N.D. Ga. Sept. 30, 2008); 405 F. Supp. 2d 1381 (N.D. Ga. 2005).

· Obtained jury verdict of no patent infringement and invalidity of two patents on behalf of a telecommunications company accused of infringing a competitor's patents relating to voice over IP technology. Verizon Serv. Corp. et al. v. Cox Fibernet Virginia, Inc. et al., No. 1:08-CV-157 (E.D. Va. Oct. 6, 2008).

· Obtained summary judgment of non-infringement on behalf of a large soft drink manufacturer accused of infringing its largest competitor's patented technology. See The Coca Cola Co. v. PepsiCo, Inc. et al., 2007 WL 2269819 (N.D. Ga. Aug. 9, 2007); 2007 WL 2298421 (N.D. Ga. July 24, 2007)

· Represented four major financial institutions in patent infringement litigation involving electronic check processing technology. See DataTreasury Corp. v. Wells Fargo & Co., et al., Civ. Action No. 2:06-CV-72 (E.D. Tex.); DataTreasury Corp. v. Wachovia Corp., et al., Civ. Action No. 2:05-CV-293 (E.D. Tex.)

· Obtained monetary damages and a temporary restraining order and permanent injunction on behalf of a North Carolina-based temporary staffing company against a former employee who used his former employer's proprietary trade secrets to divert business to a competitor. See Alliance of Prof'ls & Consultants v. Munley, Civ. Action No. 1:04-CV-03288-RWS (N.D. Ga. July 28, 2005).

· Obtained a permanent injunction on behalf of large Pennsylvania-based company in the heating and air conditioning industry against a former employee who divulged the company's trade secrets in Internet chat rooms. See York Int'l v. Hammer, Civ. Action No. 1:04-CV-00260-JTC (Feb. 4, 2004).

· Obtained an order severely restricting a high-level executive's ability to perform his duties as the president of a competing telecommunications company and enforcing his obligations to maintain the confidentiality of information he learned as an executive of a large Atlanta-based telecommunications company. See BellSouth Corp. v. Forsee, 265 Ga. App. 589 (Ga. Ct. App. 2004).

· Represented a specialty consumer reporting agency that collects tenant history information in a nationwide action lawsuit and negotiated a class-wide settlement that resulted in significant savings for the client. See Marino v. UDR, Civ. Action No. 2:05-CV-02268-JD (E.D. Penn. July 27, 2006)

Background

· Ms. Dial was a member of Pi Sigma Alpha political science honor society and Managing Editor of the William & Mary Law Review.

· Her article "Ad Hoc Adjudication: People v. Champion, Another Confusing Element in the Turmoil Following Minnesota v. Dickerson," was published at 39 Wm. & Mary L. Rev. 1003 (1998).

· Ms. Dial served on the Board of Directors for the Junior League of Atlanta in 2006-2007 and is a former President of the William and Mary Law School Alumni Association in 2003-2004.

· Ms. Dial has been recognized as a Junior League Woman to Watch and as a Georgia Rising Stars SuperLawyers.