Druckrey helps businesses protect their secrets

Listen to this article

When an employee leaves a company, there’s always the potential they may take important intellectual property or trade secrets with them. When they do, businesses rely on Quarles & Brady LLP partner Nicole Druckrey to help clean up the mess.

“The cases can get complicated,” she said. “You have to look at a lot of data files and look at dates to see when different files are accessed or information is downloaded.

“I sometimes have to work with IT vendors to help with that, but I’ve been doing this for long enough now that I am pretty adept at finding the patterns.”

Druckery regularly handles disputes over noncompete agreements, trade secrets, fraud allegations and contract breaches.

While working at a firm in Minnesota, she worked on a case where a series of employees left a company over the span of a couple of weeks.

“We discovered that they had started a competing company and realized they had taken some information with them,” she said. “We had to then react quickly and got an injunction and got a settlement.”

Sometimes the cases she works on end after just a couple of months, while others last much longer. One of her first courses of action is to decide whether a preliminary injunction is needed to halt any business activity.

But, she said, “Usually just hearing about the injunction is enough to start settlement discussions.”

Druckrey also leads the pro bono efforts for Quarles’ office in Milwaukee. Giving back is important, she said, and she often works with pro bono clients to get injunctions in domestic violence cases.

She said she enjoys connecting pro bono requests with interested attorneys.

“When new attorneys join us, I meet with them to see what their interests may be regarding pro bono cases,” she said. “Some attorneys have clients they already work with and that continues, but as new requests come in, I will try to find them someone to work with.”

Wisconsin Law Journal: What career would you have pursued if you hadn’t become an attorney?
Nicole Druckrey: Probably an accountant. I like numbers. Boring, I know.

WLJ: What was the last movie that you saw?
Druckrey: ‘The Imitation Game’

WLJ: What song gets heavy rotation on your iPod?
Druckrey: ‘Let It Go.’ I have two daughters.

WLJ: Who is someone you admire?
Druckrey: My dad. He didn’t come from much, but he persevered. He went to law school after my sister and I were born, and then started his own practice. He passed away when I was a teenager.

WLJ: What is your favorite vacation spot?
Druckrey: Orlando

WLJ: If you could choose any super power, what would you pick?
Druckrey: Flying. My family lives up in Superior so it would be great if I could fly up there whenever I want to see them.

WLJ: What was the first concert that you attended?
Druckrey: It’s either Nelson or MC Hammer. I’m not sure which was first.

WLJ: What activity could you spend hours on outside of work?
Druckrey: Shopping. One time my daughter and I pulled up at Target, and she said from the back seat: ‘We’re home!’