Assessing and Improving Trade Secret Protection
Regular audits ensure trade secret protection remains effective as businesses evolve. Our Trade Secret Audits practice provides comprehensive assessment of trade secret programs, identifying strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities for improvement.
Audit Scope
Comprehensive audits cover all aspects of trade secret protection. We review what information is treated as trade secrets, how it's identified and classified, who has access, what agreements are in place, and how protection is documented. We evaluate both policies and actual practices.
Protection Measure Assessment
We evaluate existing protection measures against legal standards and best practices. We assess whether measures are reasonable under applicable law—sufficient to maintain trade secret status while enabling legitimate business operations. We identify gaps between stated policies and actual implementation.
Vulnerability Identification
Audits identify weaknesses creating risk. We examine access controls, physical security, electronic protections, third-party relationships, and employee procedures. We identify where trade secrets may be exposed to theft or inadvertent disclosure.
Documentation Review
Enforcement requires evidence of reasonable measures. We review documentation supporting protection efforts—policies, training records, agreements, access logs, and incident responses. We identify documentation gaps that could undermine enforcement.
Competitive Intelligence Assessment
We evaluate how the organization gathers competitive intelligence to ensure practices don't create liability for misappropriating others' trade secrets. We review hiring practices, information gathering procedures, and training.
Recommendations and Remediation
Audit findings drive improvement. We prioritize identified issues by risk level and provide actionable recommendations. We help implement improvements and develop roadmaps for program enhancement.