Eric Akira Tate co-chairs the firm’s Global Employment and Labor Group. He represents technology and other companies in bet-the-company trade secrets and employee mobility cases. Eric also represents boards of directors and companies in #MeToo and other sensitive internal investigations and disputes with executives, whistleblower, wrongful termination, discrimination and harassment, and other employment litigation.
Eric also advises companies in employment law compliance and transactional matters, including restrictive covenants and other personnel policies and procedures, and employment aspects of mergers and acquisitions throughout the United States and globally.
Eric’s recent board of directors and executive dispute matters include: defending a publicly traded UK company in the defense of a wrongful termination suit by the former CEO of its U.S. subsidiary; representing a TSX-traded Canadian company in wrongful termination and other claims alleged by two terminated C-suite executives; represented a publicly traded Japanese investment firm in separation of a C-suite executive; represented a publicly traded Japanese healthcare company in the separation of the CEO and 20+ other U.S. executives, including defense of several wrongful termination and discrimination claims; and represented a publicly traded Fortune 200 technology company in investigation of discrimination and harassment claims against a C-suite executive, who subsequently resigned without incident.
Regarding trade secrets and employee mobility issues, Eric represented Uber in its diligence investigation as part of its acquisition of Ottomotto, the autonomous vehicle startup founded by former Google engineers. He then helped lead Uber’s defense of the subsequent patent infringement and trade secrets misappropriation suit, which settled several days into trial in February 2018. In addition to technology companies, Eric has handled similar matters for companies across many industries, including, but not limited to, Williams Sonoma v. Restoration Hardware, International Lease Finance Co. v. Air Lease Corporation, Melaleuca, Inc. v. Shaklee Corporation, and New Century Mortgage v. Encore Credit.
Most recently, Eric was recognized by Chambers USA for Labor & Employment, again by Best Lawyers as a leading lawyer in employment law, again by the Daily Journal as one of California’s Top Labor and Employment Lawyers and Top Trade Secrets Lawyers, again by Benchmark Litigation as a Labor and Employment Star, and again named to Law360’s 2023 EA Discrimination Editorial Advisory Board. Eric was elected as a Fellow of the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers in 2021.
Eric is committed to advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion at the firm and development of the legal profession generally. Eric has served on the firm’s Diversity Strategy Committee since its inception and is a past co-chair. Eric is a former hiring partner for the Palo Alto office and past member of the firmwide Pro Bono and Litigation Evaluations Committees. Eric serves on the Points Committee for the firm. Eric serves as a partner sponsor for multiple affinity groups at the firm and as a formal and informal mentor to associates around the firm.
Eric is a leader in the American Bar Association’s (ABA’s) Labor and Employment (LEL) Section and LEL’s Employment Rights and Responsibilities (ERR) Committee. Eric is serving his second term on the governing Council (Board of Directors) for the LEL Section. Eric serves as co-chair of ERR’s Covenants Not to Compete and Trade Secrets Subcommittee. Eric is a past co-chair of the ABA LEL Annual Meeting Committee, the LEL Section Annual CLE Conference, and ERR’s Alternative Dispute Resolution, Employment At-Will and Collateral Torts, and Worker Dislocation Subcommittees. He also has served on the Planning Committee for the National Employment Law Council’s Annual Conference.
For nearly 15 years, Eric has served as a mediator for the Northern District of California’s Alternative Dispute Resolution Program, handling employment discrimination and harassment, wrongful termination, trade secrets and employee mobility, and other employment-related and disability matters.
Additionally, Eric is a thought leader in various employment law areas and recognized authority in trade secrets and employee mobility. He serves on the Board of Review for leading BNA treatises Trade Secrets: A State-by-State Survey; Covenants Not to Compete; Employee Duty of Loyalty; and Tortious Interference in the Employment Context. He is author of “Protecting Investment in IP and People” in Today’s General Counsel; “SCOTUS Poised to Resolve Circuit Split on SOX Federal Whistleblower Standard and Other Statutes” in the Daily Journal; “Workplace Bias and Gender Pay Equity in the Silicon Valley” in LJN Employment Law Strategist; “Trade Secrets and the Activision Case: Lessons for Employers and Employees” in the IP Litigator; “Protect Your Investments: Recent Developments in California Law Regarding Non-competition Agreements and Other Restrictive Covenants” in NVCA Today; “Microinequities: Can Bad Behavior Be Actionable?” in National Law Journal; “The When, Who and How of Workplace Investigations” in The Practical Litigator; and “California Raises Bar for Employers Again: Gender Pay Bias Claims Set to Take Off with New Gender Pay Equity and Anti‑Discrimination Law” in Bloomberg BNA Daily Labor Report.
Eric is active in community endeavors. He founded and is a former president of the Board of Directors of Hapa Issues Forum, Inc., a nonprofit community organization that addresses issues relating to persons of partial Asian descent. Eric is a past president of the Board of Directors of the Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Northern California. He also is a member of the INROADS Alumni Association, the 100 Black Men of the Bay Area, Inc., and he has served as a mentor for students in the Level Playing Field Institute’s IDEAL Scholars Program.
