News

Edward S. Cheng quoted in article on legal feud between Boston PI firms

Edward S. Cheng, partner in the firm’s Litigation Department, was quoted in a Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly article titled, “Experts take stock of legal feud between Boston PI firms.”

From the article:

Edward S. Cheng, a professional liability attorney at Sherin & Lodgen in Boston, says he doesn’t see the Sokolove/Stone litigation as resulting in groundbreaking legal precedent on the level of Governo.

“It’s not going to make landmark new law because it’s so fact-specific,” Cheng says. “There are a handful of firms that engage in this sort of legal services marketing business model. Any decision on this case isn’t going to affect the business model of 99 percent of all law firms.”

Cheng, too, thinks it will be difficult for Sokolove Law to establish that its business model qualified as a trade secret.

“The threshold element of a trade secret claim is that there’s a trade secret,” Cheng says. “If you look up ‘Sokolove’ on the internet, you will see an article on Wikipedia or a news article that explains exactly [firm founder James] Sokolove’s business model. He makes no bones about it. His firm does not handle the cases. It serves as a referral service for the firms that are affiliated with it. In the big picture, that business model is no great secret.”

Click here to continue reading in Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly (subscriber-only content).