Randy Kahnke focuses his practice on complex commercial litigation and intellectual property litigation. Randy has been the lead trial attorney on cases from New York to California and touching three continents. He has extensive consulting, pretrial, and trial experience with complex commercial and intellectual property disputes. He is a frequent lecturer on issues related to complex business disputes and intellectual property litigation, and he is the past group head of the firm's business litigation practice. He is the co-editor and contributing author of the acclaimed book The Secrets to Winning Trade Secret Cases, Thomson West (2009). Randy is a member of the Federal Practice Committee of the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota. He is the past president and a member of the board of directors of the Minnesota Chapter of the Federal Bar Association, a former federal law clerk, and he has been recognized as a leading litigator in Chambers USA, SuperLawyers, and Best Lawyers in America.

Representative Clients: ADC Telecommunications, Allianz, Boston Scientific Corporation, Cargill, CarVal, FICO, General Mills, Honeywell, HTI, IBM, Target, United Health Group, Wells Fargo

Some of his relevant experience includes the following:

• Winning a federal jury verdict in favor of a leading medical products manufacturer on trade secret claims
• Obtaining complete defense verdict in federal trial centering on conspiracy claims
• Winning dismissal in the Southern District of New York of a complaint seeking in excess of $100 million arising out of an alleged international hedge fund trade
• Winning dismissal of a complaint in the Central District of California and prevailing on a subsequent appeal in the Ninth Circuit in a case alleging theft by a Chinese corporation of British trade secrets valued at over $100 million
• Winning complete defense and attorneys' fees award on behalf of Fortune 500 company after week-long arbitration hearing involving $20M breach of contract claims
• Multi-week trial before Delaware Chancery Court involving multi-million dollar breach of contract and trade secrets claims (decision pending)
• Winning complete summary judgment on behalf of a one of the country's leading financial analytics companies in a case involving claims in excess of $25 million
• Executing key trial testimony role in six-year, billion-dollar pharmaceutical trade secret dispute resulting in a permanent injunction. (The litigation was featured on page one of the National Law Journal)
• Obtaining a preliminary injunction on behalf of a leading computer hardware manufacturer on claims of trade secret misappropriation and breach of non-compete agreements
• Winning the reversal of a temporary restraining order and successfully defending against a motion for preliminary injunction on behalf of one of the nation's leading electronic information providers
• Securing dismissal of all breach of fiduciary duty and breach of contract claims in Delaware Chancery Court on behalf of all members of a board of directors and their company
• Forcing the withdrawal of a motion for preliminary injunction and all claims alleging trade secret misappropriation and breach of a non-compete on behalf of a major food manufacturer
• Successfully representing a major corporate expense reimbursement firm in an action against a former employee and his new competing company
• Negotiating the safe return to an archeological firm of protected artifacts, company property, and trade secrets that had been taken by former employees of the firm who had started a competing venture
• Successfully representing an engineering firm in an action against several former employees and their new competing company, which was formed in part with the assistance of the engineering firm's trade secrets
• Successfully representing a leading manufacturer of ink jet printers in an action against a competitor; the case includes claims of trade secret misappropriation, trademark and patent infringement, and false advertising
• Successfully defending a local hospital against a formerly affiliated doctor who claimed that the hospital had misappropriated a now-patented trade secret treatment protocol
• Negotiating and monitoring the successful transition of a national computer hardware manufacturer's employee from lead in-house engineer, to independent consultant, and ultimately to legitimate competitor

Media mentions

• AIPLA Daily Report
• Business Journal
• CIO.com
• Computer World
• Counsel-to-Counsel
• e-week
• Federal Lawyer
• InfoWorld
• IT World
• St. Paul Pioneer Press
• Minneapolis Star Tribune
• MSNBC
• Minnesota Lawyer

Honors

• The Best Lawyers in America, Commercial Litigation
• Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business, Litigation: General Commercial
• Super Lawyers, Business Litigation
• Top 40 IP Attorneys in Minnesota, Minnesota Law & Politics
• Delta Epsilon Sigma National Honor Society
• Omicron Delta Epsilon National Economics Honor Society
• Pi Gamma Mu National Social Science Honor Society
• John C. Benson Pro Bono Award

Professional Associations

Clerkships

• U.S. District Court, District of Minnesota, Hon. David S. Doty, 1989–1991

Presentations
Randy has spoken dozens of times, locally and nationally, on topics involving complex commercial litigation and intellectual property litigation. A sampling includes:

• Invited Lecturer, University of Minnesota Law School (Complex Litigation)
• Invited Lecturer: University of St. Thomas Law School (The Art of Cross Examination)
• Managing Cases To Win
  New York Counsel-To-Counsel Summit
• Stop Them Now! Guidelines for Litigating at the Speed of Light
  Complex Litigation Seminar, Minneapolis 
• Winning Litigation
  AIPLA Annual Meeting, Washington D.C.
• Winning Trade Secret Cases
  West National Speaker Series
• The Keys To Successful Litigation
  IPO National Meeting, Chicago
• Keeping Your Trade Secret Treasure Chest Locked
  Food, Agriculture & Biofuels 2010 National Conference
• Invited lecturer, University of Minnesota Law School
• Enforcing Trade Secret Rights and Defending Against Trade Secret Claims
  Law Seminars International
• The Interface Between Trade Secret, Patent, and Employment Law
  Med Edge International Conference
• Preparing, Defending, and Attacking Cleanrooms
  Midwest Intellectual Property Institute
• Trade Secrets from a Business View
  Minnesota Continuing Legal Education
• Unfair Competition: Critical Issues in Trade Secret Litigation
  Minnesota Institute of Legal Education
• Introduction to Intellectual Property Litigation
  Minnesota Continuing Legal Education
• Protecting Confidential Business Information
  PricewaterhouseCoopers General Counsel Forum
• Protecting Trade Secrets During Employee Transition
  Annual Upper Midwest Employment Law Institute
• A Guided Tour of Trade Secret Law
  Minnesota Institute of Legal Education
• Protecting Trade Secrets in the Information Age
  Intellectual Property Seminar
• Basic Training for Intellectual Property Litigation
  Minnesota Continuing Legal Education
• Minority Shareholder Disputes
  Minnesota Institute of Legal Education
• Noncompetes and Trade Secrets: Employment Law Week
  Minnesota Continuing Legal Education
• Antitrust Concerns of Covenants to not Compete
  Annual Business Competition Law Seminar
• Managing and Taking Corporate Discovery
  Minnesota Continuing Legal Education
• Minority Shareholder Disputes: Managing Litigation
  Minnesota Institute of Legal Education
• Evidence Preservation: Business and the Law
  Annual Securities Litigation Seminar
• Trade Secrets: Your Business and the Law
  Faegre & Benson Seminar
• Nuts & Bolts of Intellectual Property Law
  Intellectual Property Seminar
• Recent Developments in the Law of Trade Secrets
  Intellectual Property Seminar
• Litigating Trade Secret Cases
  Intellectual Property Seminar
• Trade Secrets Updates
  Faegre & Benson Seminar
• Executives Who Are Also Minority Shareholders: Rights, Obligations, and Related Trade Secret Issues
  Minnesota Continuing Legal Education
• Resolving Partnership Disputes
  Minnesota Institute of Legal Education
• Managing LLC Litigation
  Minnesota Institute of Legal Education
• Resolving Disputes Involving Non-Profit Corporations
  Minnesota Institute of Legal Education
• Employees Carrying Secrets—What's an Employer to Do? A Tour de Force Examination of Strategies to Protect Your Confidential Business Information
  Minnesota Continuing Legal Education
• Defection of a Key Executive to the Competition—What to Do and When?
  Minnesota Continuing Legal Education

Legal Updates