Related Practices

Education

J.D., New York University School of Law, 1994
B.A., magna cum laude , Occidental College, 1989, Phi Beta Kappa

Bar Admissions

Arizona, 1994

Clerkships

Vice Chief Justice James Moeller, Arizona Supreme Court

Bruce E. Samuels

Partner

vCard

Phoenix

40 North Central Avenue
Suite 1900
Phoenix, Arizona 85004

Phone 602.262.0216

Fax 602.734.3859

About Bruce Samuels

Mr. Samuels is a partner in the firm’s Litigation Section. He practices primarily in the areas of intellectual property litigation and business litigation, including trade secrets, restrictive covenants, and unfair competition. He often represents clients in proceedings in which temporary restraining orders and preliminary injunctions are sought. He leads the firm's Professional Development committee and serves on Lewis and Roca's Policy Committee.

During and after college, Mr. Samuels lived, studied, and traveled in 35 countries, including a fourteen month research fellowship studying the public policies of tobacco, and volunteering for Crossroads Africa in Tanzania.

Representative Cases/Matters

Obtained summary judgment on an insurance agent's claims for damages allegedly arising from the insurance company's termination of the agent's agreement. Also obtained a sanctions award of $125,000 against the agent for judicial misconduct. (United States District Court, District of Nevada)
Obtained summary judgment on liability against former insurance agent for violating one-year contractual restriction on inducing customers to switch their insurance. (United States District Court, District of Nevada)
Prosecuted a lawsuit by a dental service provider against an administrative entity that had terminated a contract through which our client provided dental care to Medicaid eligible patients. After we defeated an effort to have the lawsuit dismissed, the parties agreed to a business solution by reinstating the contractual relationship and terminating the litigation.
Obtained a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction on behalf of a financial services firm against a former employee to prohibit solicitation of customers.
Defeated a motion for preliminary injunction filed by an iPhone application developer against a restaurant company alleging trade secret misappropriation.
Obtained summary judgment defending a commercial tenant in a lawsuit filed by a landlord over common area maintenance charges.
Obtained a preliminary injunction against an insurance agent requiring compliance with a one-year anti-piracy contract.
Obtained judgments in five cases on behalf of an insurance company against former agents who had violated their one year anti-piracy agreement after they joined a competitor.
Obtained an emergency order appointing a receiver to operate and arrange for the sale of an apartment complex.
Obtained summary judgment and a permanent injunction on behalf of a fire alarm company against a competitor. The court ruled that the competitor was liable for unfair competition based on the competitor's use of the alarm company's equipment upon taking over monitoring at customer locations.
Obtained emergency relief in the form of a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction in a case involving a terminated insurance agent’s breach of his non-solicitation agreement. He later obtained summary judgment against the agent.
Obtained summary judgment against a former insurance agent who had sued the insurance company for post-termination payments pursuant to an agency contract.
Obtained a $924,000 judgment and permanent injunction against two corporations that had misappropriated security alarm customer accounts from a security alarm monitoring company.
Obtained summary judgment against the principal of the $924,000 judgment debtor for successor liability and fraudulent transfer.
Defended a California based manufacturer in a lawsuit alleging breach of intellectual property rights by an Arizona company and obtained a dismissal for lack of personal jurisdiction as well as an award of attorney’s fees.
Obtained a temporary restraining order for a client on the eve of a foreclosure sale of her house that allowed the client to challenge the validity of the underlying documents giving rise to the foreclosure.
Obtained a temporary restraining order on behalf of an estate, freezing the assets of a suspected killer of the decedent who had transferred funds from the decedent’s bank accounts. The suspected killer ultimately released all interest in those accounts.
Obtained a temporary restraining order on behalf of a fire alarm company preventing seizure of its assets by a lender.
Obtained a preliminary injunction enjoining the former drivers’ use of an infringing trademark in a case in which two former taxi drivers started a competing company using the same trademark.
Obtained a transfer of prioritymail.com and post-office.net for the United States Postal Service in a domain name dispute.
Obtained an injunction against a party that had posted a non-profit corporation’s budget on the internet.
Defended a client accused of cybersquatting, which resulted in the arbitration panel finding that the other side was guilty of reverse domain name hijacking.
Obtained a permanent injunction on behalf of an asphalt company against a competitor using a similar name.
Obtained a permanent injunction on behalf of an alarm monitoring company against a person using the client’s name in a telephone book listing (United States District Court, Central District of California).
Obtained a permanent injunction against a person for infringing an alarm monitoring company’s trademark (United States District Court, Eastern District of Missouri).
Served as the lead lawyer in Ashelman v. Wawrzaszek, 111 F.3d 674 (9th Cir. 1996), establishing an Orthodox Jewish prisoner’s constitutional right to a kosher diet.

Memberships and Affiliations

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Member
Arizona Center for Law in the Public Interest, Board Member, Chairperson (2009-present)
Boys and Girls Club of Greater Scottsdale, Board of Governors (2011)
Hacienda Healthcare, Former Board Member
Scottsdale Chamber of Commerce, Former Member Public Policy Advisory Committee (2006-2009)
Arizonans Concerned About Smoking, Former Board Member
Graduate of Scottsdale Leadership, Class XIII
Chairperson of the Arizona State Bar Intellectual Property Section (2005-2006)

Publications

Quote Source, "En Banc Ninth Circuit Decision Could Send CFAA to Supreme Court for Review," Reproduced in Bloomberg BNA, with permission from Electronic Commerce & Law Report, April 2012
Co-Author, "The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act: ‘Authorization’ in Flux and the Ninth Circuit Dilemma," The United States Law Week, 80 U.S.L.W. 1193, March 2012
Co-Author, "Staking Claim to Your Domain," BizAZ, November/December 2001
Author, "The Drug Testing Project In International Sports: Dilemmas In An Expanding Regulatory Regime," Hastings International And Comparative Law Review, Spring 1995
Editor-in-Chief, NYU Review Of Law & Social Change, 1993-1994
Author, "Philip Morris' Failed Experiment In Pittsburgh," Journal Of Health Politics, Policy & Law, June 1992
Author, "Medical Records: Getting Yours," Public Citizen Health Research Group, 1992
Author, "The Politics Of Local Tobacco Control," Journal of the American Medical Association, October 1991

Speaking Engagements

Speaker, "Electronic Discovery and Computer Forensics," Arizona Society of CPAs, Forensics and Litigation Services Conference, December 2011
Guest Speaker, "Litigating Restrictive Covenants and Trade Secrets," Phoenix School of Law's Intellectual Property, April 2011
Speaker, "Restrictive Covenants," Entrepreneur Initiative, February 2011
Taught a Legal Continuing Education seminar,"Trade Secrets for IP Practitioners," Maricopa County Bar Association, March 2010
Taught a Legal Continuing Education course,"Litigating Trade Secret and Restrictive Covenants," State Bar of Arizona, October 2009
Guest Lecturer, "Domain Name Arbitrations," ASU College of Law's Arbitration Class
Guest Lecturer, "Cybersquatting disputes," ASU College of Law's E-Commerce Class
Speaker, "Trademarks and Trade secrets," State Bar of Arizona Annual Convention

Court Admissions

U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit, 1996
U.S. District Court, Arizona, 1996

Other Distinctions

Mr. Samuels was named the Best Lawyers’ 2011 Phoenix Intellectual Property Lawyer of the Year. Mr. Samuels was also listed in the 2009-2012 editions of The Best Lawyers in America ®, by Woodward/White, Aiken, S.C. in the category of Intellectual Property Law and in the 2012 edition in Real Estate Litigation, Copyright Law and Trademark Law. He is included in the April 2010 edition of AZ Business' Top Lawyers, in the categories of Intellectual Property Law and Information Technology Law.