Welcome to Skaggs Faucette LLP
Skaggs Faucette LLP is a litigation firm with offices in San Francisco and Palo Alto. Firm founders Jason Skaggs and Jeff Faucette practiced together for over ten years as associates and then as partners in San Francisco at Howard Rice Nemerovski Canady Falk & Rabkin (now Arnold & Porter). In 2020, Marty Glick joined the firm after practicing at Howard Rice and its successor firm Arnold & Porter for over 40 years. Jason, Jeff and Marty are experienced litigators who have represented Fortune 500 companies, small and medium-sized businesses, and individuals in a wide variety of commercial and intellectual property disputes on both the plaintiff and defense side.
We founded this firm because we share a commitment to excellence in the practice of law and the desire to be personally and directly involved in each of our cases without the overhead and billing pressures of a traditional firm. We strive to deliver high quality legal representation tailored to the individual needs of each client in a practical, personal, and efficient manner.
ATTORNEYS
Office:
530 Lytton Avenue 2nd Floor, Palo Alto CA 94301
P 650.617.3226
F 650.644.0200
Jason Skaggs
Jason has appeared in federal and state courts throughout California, and represented clients in trial, arbitration, mediation, and administrative proceedings. The subject matters of these representations include contractual and other commercial disputes, unfair competition, securities litigation, partnership disputes, employment, legal ethics issues, probate/trust litigation, homeowners association disputes, banking law, anti-SLAPP motions, copyright and trademark, cybersquatting, and class actions. Jason has also lectured on legal ethics and the use of expert witnesses. Jason has been selected as a “Super Lawyer” in every year from 2013 to 2024 by Northern California Super Lawyers magazine, and as a "Rising Star" (top attorneys under 40) from 2010-2012. The magazine also named Jason to the “Top 100” list of Northern California attorneys in 2015. Jason has an AV® Preeminent™ Peer Review Rating from Martindale-Hubbell.
Jason opened his own practice in 2009, and joined with Jeff Faucette in 2012 to form Skaggs Faucette LLP. Jason's clients include:
-
LinkedIn Corporation
-
Intuit Inc.
-
Zscaler, Inc.
-
Fekkai Retail, LLC
-
Mobilitas Technologies
Jason's recent work includes obtaining summary judgment on behalf of Fekkai in federal court in a right of publicity case wherein the court also awarded Fekkai its attorneys' fees. He also successfully litigated multiple lawsuits on behalf of family matriarch involving claims including breach of fiduciary duty related to trusts and partnerships by prevailing on summary judgment motions and a statutory buyout motion. Jason also obtained two arbitration awards on behalf of Intuit, and prevailed in a court trial on a breach of contract claim (after obtaining a writ of attachment) on behalf of Mobilitas Technologies. The amicus curiae brief that Jason filed in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on behalf of the Association of Corporate Counsel and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce was featured in the National Law Journal and Inside Counsel. Jason’s efforts in anti-SLAPP litigation have also been discussed in the Recorder legal newspaper.
Jason was a partner at Howard Rice Nemerovski Canady Falk & Rabkin in San Francisco prior to opening his own practice. He was elected as a partner in 2006 after working as an associate at Howard Rice since 1999. Jason joined Howard Rice following a clerkship with the Honorable Procter Hug Jr., the then-Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
Jason received his law degree in 1998 from the University of California at Berkeley, where he was an associate editor of the California Law Review. His Comment, Justifying Gender-Based Affirmative Action Under United States v. Virginia’s “Exceedingly Persuasive Justification” Standard, was published in the California Law Review in October 1998. Jason also externed for the Honorable Susan Illston of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California during law school. Jason graduated with honors from Duke University in 1994, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in Public Policy Studies.
Jason is admitted to practice in California state courts, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and the United States District Courts for the Northern, Eastern, Central and Southern Districts of California.
Office:
Four Embarcadero Center
Suite 1400 PMB #72
San Francisco CA 94111
P 415.295.1197
F 888.980.6547
Jeff Faucette
Since 1997, Jeff Faucette has helped clients ranging from individuals to Fortune 100 companies resolve disputes in a wide variety of cases. When SolarCity breached a contract with Borrego Solar Systems, Jeff took the case to arbitration and single-handedly won an award for more than $1.6 million against a team of lawyers from Morgan Lewis & Bockius. When BTL Industries was sued for false advertising and unfair competition, Jeff defeated a motion for preliminary injunction and a motion for partial summary judgment, preserving BTL’s ability to continue to sell its Vanquish medical device. When Datel Holdings was sued for trade secret misappropriation by Hewlett-Packard, Jeff and his partner Jason successfully defended the case leading to a voluntary dismissal by HP. Jeff has also represented numerous individuals and small companies in disputes involving trademarks and trade dress, director and officer liability, trade secret and employee mobility issues, and general contract disputes.
Jeff’s clients have included the following:
-
Amazon.com, Inc.
-
Borrego Solar Systems, Inc.
-
BTL Industries, Inc.
-
Domino's Pizza, Inc.
-
Datel Holdings
-
Genentech, Inc.
-
Google
-
LinkedIn
-
Viki, Inc.
In addition to his work as a lawyer, Jeff has received significant training in mediation over the past several years, including a 40-hour course offered by the Bar Association of San Francisco, and he has conducted several mediations. Jeff is a member of the Northern District of California ADR Panel and is available to serve as a mediator and/or early neutral evaluator through the Court as well as through private engagements. In mediations, Jeff has found that his substantial experience as a litigator helps him to better assess parties' positions and to empathize with both clients and lawyers enmeshed in litigation matters.
Jeff began his legal career as a law clerk for the Honorable Sven Erik Holmes, United States District Court Judge for the Northern District of Oklahoma. He then joined the law firm Howard Rice Nemerovski Canady Falk & Rabkin in San Francisco in 1997 and became a partner there in 2004. In late 2009, he joined the litigation boutique Taylor & Company Law Offices LLP where he continued his practice in a small firm. In 2012, Jeff and Jason Skaggs founded Skaggs Faucette LLP.
Jeff was selected as a Northern California “Super Lawyer” in the area of intellectual property litigation in 2004, and 2010-2022. He was a long-time member of the International Trademark Association, including service on the Internet and Anti-Counterfeiting Committees. He has lectured on the issues of the right of publicity and professional athletes and has led discussions at the INTA annual meeting on the recovery of attorneys’ fees in trademark litigation.
Jeff graduated from Duke University School of Law in 1996 with high honors. At Duke, he was a member of the Moot Court Board, a member and an articles editor on the Duke Law Journal, and the author of The Freedom of Speech at Risk in Cyberspace: Obscenity Doctrine and a Frightened University’s Censorship of Sex on the Internet, 44 Duke L. J. 1155. In 1991, Jeff graduated from Stanford University with a bachelors degree in political science and departmental honors for his thesis on the deregulation of the cable television industry. Between college and law school, Jeff worked in Washington, DC in politics, first as a doorkeeper in the U.S. Senate, then as press assistant on the House Armed Services Committee. In 1992, he was the press secretary for a congressional campaign in Montgomery County, Maryland and then he spent six months working in the area of polling and focus group research at Peter D. Hart & Associates.
When not practicing law, Jeff has been actively involved in soccer in Oakland as a coach in East Bay United Soccer Club and at Oakland Technical High School, as a referee of youth soccer games, and and as a player for AFC Alcatraz in the East Bay Friendly Soccer League and for the Rusty Plough FC in the East Bay Senior Soccer League. From 2014-2017, Jeff served as the President of the Board of Jack London Youth Soccer League (a league of over 5,000 youth players in the East Bay).
Office:
Four Embarcadero Center
Suite 1400 PMB #72
San Francisco CA 94111
P 415.295.1197
F 888.980.6547
Marty Glick
Marty is an intellectual property and employment law wage claims litigator, business executive and author. After graduating from Ohio State law school with honors, he began his legal career with the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice working in Mississippi and Louisiana on civil and criminal matters including the prosecution of the killers of the three civil rights workers in Philadelphia, Mississippi in 1964. He joined California Rural Legal Assistance in Salinas in 1966 and later was CRLA’s statement litigation director and ultimately its Executive Director. Marty taught trial practice at Stanford in 1974-75 and then was appointed by Governor Jerry Brown to be Director of the California Employment Department (EDD) from 1975-79. He joined the Howard, Rice firm in 1979 as a litigator and was a partner with that firm and senior counsel with Arnold & Porter (which acquired Howard, Rice) continuously until 2020.
Marty’s representations include Amazon in its trademark dispute with Apple over use of “app store” which resulted in an Amazon partial summary judgment and then dismissal of all claims; Lewis Galoob Toys in a number of trademark and copyright cases including its copyright action against Nintendo involving the Game Genie Video Enhancer which resulted in an award of $15 million to Galoob; post trial and appellate representation of the Marvin Gaye Estate in its successful litigation against Pharrell Williams and Robin Thicke in copyright litigation related to the Gaye song “Got to Give It Up” and the Williams composition of “Blurred Lines;” Research in Motion in its post-trial patent litigation defense of the Blackberry, including successfully settling the case; Major League Baseball Properties and the Commissioner of Baseball in defense of various cases brought by former players alleging infringement of their right of publicity including a successful jury verdict in one case and a denial of class certification in another; BP Pipelines in successful litigation over rights to capacity on the Trans-Alaska Pipeline; a successful litigation on behalf of Datel Design against Microsoft involving a kitchen sink of patent, copyright and trademark and antitrust claims; settlement of claims filed by workers at Yank Sing restaurant claiming wage and hour violations; a successful summary judgment win for Tanimura & Antle involving class action wage claims; representation of the Reiter Companies and Driscoll in wage claims including piloting of legislation to address issues common to all California piece rate employers.
Marty is currently listed in Best Lawyers in America in intellectual property and patent litigation. He has been listed as a Northern California Super lawyer from 2004 and was recognized as a “Top 100” Super Lawyer in 2015. He received in 2014 the once annually given American Bar Association Litigation Section John Minor Wisdom Public Service and Professionalism Award for his pro bono work and work with the Civil Rights Division and CRLA.
Marty also currently is the Chief Operating Officer of the Saul Zaentz Company and is co-author of The Soledad Children, a book focused on litigations on behalf of farm worker and African-American students improperly placed in then-called “retarded” classes based on English only, culturally biased IQ tests.
-
Professional LiabilityWe have represented law firms and attorneys in defense of professional liability claims and motions to disqualify, and have provided advice regarding a variety of issues arising out of partnership disputes and professional responsibilities. When other lawyers turn to us for representation, we appreciate the necessity to act quickly and discreetly in our defense of them. Our clients range from large, multi-national law firms to single-office firms based in the Bay Area. We have defended claims against attorneys arising out of intellectual property litigation matters, general corporate advice to start-ups, real estate transactions, as well as more unusual claims asserted by non-clients against law firms.
-
AppellateWe have represented clients in a variety of appellate proceedings, including direct appeals and petitions for writs of mandate. For example, Mr. Skaggs obtained a reversal from the First District Court of Appeal of a trial court order allocating wrongful death proceeds in Schellinger v. Schellinger. The First District Court of Appeal in Sanguinetti v. Forest Laboratories also recently affirmed a trial court order granting summary judgment in favor of Skaggs Faucette client Forest Laboratories in an employment action. In 2017, Mr. Faucette successfully opposed Open Text Corporation’s attempt in the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit to vacate an arbitration award he obtained for client Kevin Cochrane. Also that year, Mr. Faucette prevailed on a direct petition to the Colorado Supreme Court on behalf of client Borrego Solar Systems, Inc. The Colorado Supreme Court held that the district court had exceeded its jurisdiction in finding that Borrego was subject to general jurisdiction in Colorado.
-
Contract/Commercial LitigationWe have significant experience in representing clients in contractual disputes and other commercial litigation. For example, Mr. Skaggs obtained an arbitration award (which included an award of attorneys fees and costs) in favor of his client Grey Heron LLC in a dispute with Demandbase, Inc. with respect to a finders fee due to Grey Heron. Similarly, Mr. Faucette obtained an arbitration award of more than $1.6 million on behalf of his client Borrego Solar Systems, Inc. in a breach of contract dispute with SolarCity. Financial Services We routinely litigate disputes associated with the financial services industry. These representations include defending claims regarding reverse mortgages and mutual fund fees, as well as litigating claims associated with various Commercial Code provisions related to checks and wire transfers.
-
EmploymentWe have represented both employees and employers in a variety of employment related matters ranging from employee/independent contractor classification, wage claims, claims of discrimination and harassment, and whether an employee was properly terminated “for cause.” In Sanguinetti v. Forest Laboratories, we obtained a summary judgment in favor of our client on all ten causes of action brought by a former employee.
-
Intellectual Property LitigationSkaggs Faucette attorneys have represented and counseled clients in intellectual property matters involving patents, trademarks, copyrights, rights of publicity, and trade secrets. We recognize that these types of matters are often critical to our client’s ability to protect valuable assets or to continue to do business in the face of challenges from competitors. Patent: We have represented clients in patent matters involving computer technology, medical devices, toys, and sporting goods. We often partner with other firms in patent matters, and we have worked with attorneys from firms such as Williams & Connolly, Brinks Hofer, McKool Smith, Baker & Botts, and Pillsbury Winthrop. Trademark: We have acted as lead counsel in over 40 trademark litigation matters in in federal courts all over the United States, including the Northern, Central and Southern Districts of California, the District of Oregon, the District of Nevada, the District of Iowa, the Eastern and Southern Districts of New York, the Northern and Western Districts of Texas, the District of Rhode Island, the District of New Jersey, the Middle and Southern Districts of Florida, the District of Puerto Rico and the District of Louisiana. We have also served as counsel in several inter partes proceedings in the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board and in UDRP proceedings to stop infringing domain names. Mr. Faucette is a member of the International Trademark Association (INTA) and currently serves on the Internet Committee. Copyright: We have represented clients in litigation and in negotiations over alleged copyright infringement. We have also counseled clients on the scope and interpretation of copyright licenses. Right of Publicity: Mr. Faucette represented Major League Baseball Properties in several seminal cases involving right of publicity claims by retired players. We have also advised clients regarding potential and asserted right of publicity claims. Trade Secrets: We regularly advise companies and individuals regarding the scope of trade secret protection in the context of employee mobility issues. We have also represented clients in both the defense and prosecution of trade secret claims.