MENLO PARK (June 30) – Kilpatrick announced today that Eric Evans has joined as a partner on the Firm’s Complex Commercial Litigation Team in the Silicon Valley office. Mr. Evans has extensive experience representing innovative technology companies in high-stakes trade secret disputes, class action defense, and complex data governance matters.

“We welcome Eric to Kilpatrick,” said Gwendolyn Payton, Co-Team Leader of the Complex Commercial Litigation Team. “Adding a litigator of Eric’s caliber strengthens our ability to serve clients at the intersection of technology and complex litigation. His expertise in trade secret, class action defense, antitrust, and privacy matters—combined with his recognized thought leadership on generative AI in legal practice—enhances our team’s capacity to deliver practical, forward-looking counsel to the world’s most innovative companies.”

Mr. Evans, who is joining from Perkins Coie, represents leading technology companies in complex commercial litigation, including large-scale federal class actions involving false advertising, privacy, and antitrust claims. He advises clients on trade secret protection and enforcement and helps companies navigate intricate data and information governance challenges, including the integration of generative AI tools into business operations.

Drawing on a prior career in information technology, Mr. Evans brings a distinctive technical perspective to his practice. He counsels clients on the design and defensibility of machine learning systems, information governance frameworks, privacy compliance, and cybersecurity. Mr. Evans’s ability to bridge complex technology concepts and high-stakes legal strategy makes him a trusted advisor to companies operating at the forefront of innovation.

“Kilpatrick’s commitment to serving groundbreaking technology companies and its deep bench of skilled litigators made this the ideal next step for my practice,” said Eric Evans. “I look forward to collaborating with my new colleagues to help clients solve their most complex legal challenges—from trade secret disputes to class action defense to navigating the rapidly evolving landscape of generative AI and data governance.”

Mr. Evans earned his J.D., magna cum laude, from the University of Michigan Law School, where he served as Contributing Editor of the Michigan Law Review and Executive Note Editor of the Michigan Telecommunications and Technology Law Review. He holds an M.A. and A.B. from Harvard University, where he concentrated on Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations.

Before law school, Mr. Evans served as associate director of instructional technology at Denison University, where he also served as the institution’s Digital Millennium Copyright Act agent and redrafted its Acceptable Use Policy for Network Resources. He speaks Arabic and French and is conversant in Farsi and Turkish.

Mr. Evans maintains an active pro bono practice. He has represented clients in high-profile voter suppression matters and served as counsel in a successful class action that brought relief to victims of travel bans. Mr. Evans’s flagship pro bono project involves establishing the public domain status of the works of the acclaimed poet Ahmad Shamlou to support publication of a comprehensive English-language collection of Shamlou’s poetry.

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