Mr. Minton is a business litigator with significant experience representing plaintiffs and defendants in a wide range of civil litigation matters, with an emphasis on intellectual property-related cases, member/shareholder dissension in LLCs and close corporations, and trust and estate-related disputes.

After graduating from law school, Mr. Minton served as a law clerk to the Honorable Martin J. Jenkins of the United States District Court, Northern District of California. Prior to joining Carr McClellan, Mr. Minton was an attorney at Latham & Watkins LLP in San Francisco and Menlo Park specializing in intellectual property and business litigation.

Recent Experience Includes:

• Defeated preliminary injunction motion in federal trademark action brought by large cosmetics company against client premium boutique cosmetics company, then reached settlement which allowed client to continue selling product line in question and required large company to pay damages to client
• Settled case for less than 4% of plaintiff’s claimed damages in trade secret misappropriation and breach of contract action against semiconductor equipment client
• During two-week trial, proved that a trust, which substantially disinherited our clients (two of the grantors’ children), was created as a result of undue influence by a half-brother. The trial judge invalidated the challenged trust, and in doing so also found that financial elder abuse had been committed, entitling our clients to recover their attorneys’ fees
• Obtained dismissal of federal fraud case with no payment by investment bank client in class action lawsuit arising out of merger of two pharmaceutical companies
• Secured dismissal of federal action with no payment by biotechnology client in trade secret misappropriation lawsuit targeting client's novel enzyme technology used for processing biofuels
• Settled case for less than 5% of amount sought by franchisor in federal breach of contract lawsuit against franchisee client, and
• Obtained highly favorable settlement prior to suit from competitor accused of misappropriating confectionery client's proprietary customer list

Academic Credentials

• J.D., cum laude, University of California, Hastings College of the Law
• Senior Editor, Hastings Law Journal
• B.A., Law and Society, with high honors, University of California, Santa Barbara

Professional Affiliations

• State Bar of California
• San Mateo County Bar Association
• Admitted to practice in the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and the United States District Courts for the Northern, Central, Eastern and Southern Districts of California

Civic Affiliations

• Parks and Recreation Foundation of San Carlos, Board Member

• Civil Litigation