Attorneys

Robert B. Broadbelt is a partner in the Los Angeles office of Browne Woods George LLP that has represented both individuals and businesses in diverse fields and professions, as well as the California State Senate and individual State Senators in redistricting, voting rights, and other litigation.

Mr. Broadbelt was a key member of the trial team that won a $22 million judgment and permanent injunction in a misappropriation of trade secrets and unfair competition case for a client in the Mexican-style cheese industry. He also recently represented an Internet company that won a $9.8 million judgment and permanent injunction in a federal court trial involving claims of trade secret misappropriation and violations of federal and state laws prohibiting unauthorized access to computer data. He also recently successfully defended an individual who was sued by an institution for libel, intentional interference with economic relations, and invasion of privacy. Mr. Broadbelt and his partner obtained dismissal of that case by filing, and prevailing on, an “anti-SLAPP” (strategic lawsuit against public participation) motion, as well as an award of attorney’s fees and costs.

Publications Authored:

Mr. Broadbelt is a contributing author of the book California Business Litigation (2009), published by the California Continuing Education of the Bar (“CEB”). He wrote Chapter 9 of the book, entitled “Intellectual Property and Unfair Competition on the Internet,” which summarizes and discusses the federal and California statutory and case law that has been developed to address, and provide remedies for, legal issues created by the Internet. He also co-authored Chapter 3 of the book, entitled “Unfair Competition,” which addresses topics including the enforceability of covenants not to compete and other restraints on competition.

Mr. Broadbelt is a member of the Association of Business Trial Lawyers, for which he presently serves on the Board of Governors, and is a member of the Los Angeles County Bar Association.

He has also served as a speaker at continuing education programs for lawyers and other professionals, including CEB programs on preparing business litigation cases for trial (“Fundamentals of Business Practices Litigation” in 2000) and unfair competition law (“Unfair Business Practices – B&P Code § 17200 and Beyond” in 2003), as well as programs on expert witnesses for the Southern California Chapter of the Appraisal Institute (“The Complete Witness” in 2004) and on unfair competition law for the Legal Department of the California Association of Realtors (“Business & Professions Code Section 17200: Unfair Competition” in 2004).

• Complex business litigation, with an emphasis on unfair competition, trade secrets, Internet law, cyberpiracy, computer hacking and theft of computer data noncompete agreements, interference with business relations and other business torts
• Defamation, libel, slander
• First Amendment and other constitutional issues
• Intellectual property

• University of Southern California School of Law, J.D., 1984
• University of California, Berkeley, B.A., 1981