Kenneth Taber

Kenneth W. Taber has extensive experience litigating, and favorably resolving, game-changing cases for governments, corporations and individuals. Ken is known for taking on high-profile, complex matters of public interest; trade secret, non-compete, employment, hotel industry, product liability and defamation cases; and a variety of other civil litigation.

As a recognized authority on employment litigation, Ken is often called upon to share his experience and insights on employment issues. For more than a decade, Ken was the national co-leader of Pillsbury’s Litigation practice.

In the public interest realm, Ken currently represents the states of New Jersey and Delaware in their successful efforts to prevent the manufacture and dissemination of “ghost guns” through 3D printing.

Ken also recently led the Pillsbury team that represented the cities of New York, Philadelphia and San Francisco in their suit against the Department of Defense and the military services.

That suit sought to ensure the military services timely reported current and former service members disqualified from gun ownership into the national criminal background check system.

More than 1,000 broadcast, print and online news outlets covered the Department of Defense suit, and the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence honored Pillsbury as its Pro Bono Law Firm of the Year for that work.

Ken also previously led Pillsbury’s landmark litigation to stem the flow of illegal out-of-state guns on behalf of the City of New York. The New York Times called that suit then-Mayor Bloomberg’s “most successful tactic…to undermine the illegal gun trade.”

REPRESENTATIVE EXPERIENCE :

• Represented a leading aerospace manufacturer through the three-week trial in Florida State Court of its trade secrets misappropriation suit against a former employee who diverted more than $60 million in new orders.
• Represented Korea’s largest financial company, owners of the iconic San Francisco Fairmont hotel, in arbitration trial against the Fairmont brand.
• Represented a global health care data company in Connecticut arbitration proceedings, including 17 days of hearings, and a Federal Court suit, in which former employees sought more than $15 million in change-in-control benefits.
• Defended a leading Japanese trading company against national origin and race discrimination claims brought by multiple members of the client’s U.S.-based human resources team. Opposing counsel in that matter later served as the Brooklyn District Attorney.
• Served as Pillsbury’s relationship partner in representing a former governor and several political committees organized by that governor.
• Represented a Fortune 10 company in South Carolina theft of trade secrets litigation against a former business partner seeking to establish a competing business with stolen information.
• Represented a Bermuda-based reinsurer in multiple arbitrations arising from contested reinsurance agreements and the undisclosed risks claimed to be covered.
• Represented a modeling agency in widely reported litigation against a top former model who joined a competing agency in breach of her exclusive representation agreement.
• Represented a health care data company in a Delaware injunctive proceeding to compel the turnover of licensed health care data owed by the Massachusetts company in which it had invested.

Associations :

• Harlem School of the Arts, Board of Directors and Executive Committee
• Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, Board of Directors

EDUCATION :

• J.D., Yale Law School, 1980
• B.S., Economics, University of Pennsylvania, Wharton School, 1977

ADMISSIONS : New York

COURTS :

• U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit
• U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York
• U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York