Paul Mersino on Trade Secret Theft, and What It Takes to Run a 170-Year-Old Law Firm at 39

What happens when a litigator who fell in love with trial work through a mock trial team in college works his way up to running one of Michigan's oldest and most storied law firms — a 170-year-old institution at the center of the American automotive industry — and then realizes that leading a 175-attorney firm and trying cases in courtrooms across the country are not just two different jobs, they sometimes require two completely different minds? In this episode of the Trustcast Show, Zane Myers speaks with Paul Mersino, CEO of Butzel, about what to do in the first 48 hours when a top salesman quits and starts calling your clients, why deleting emails you think are harmless before litigation starts can cost you the entire case through a legal doctrine called spoliation, and what separates the 3% of business disputes that actually go to trial from the 97% that settle along the way. Paul explains how a temporary restraining order works in real time — sometimes filed by Thursday afternoon and argued by Friday morning — and why the mistakes companies make before an employee leaves matter far more than what they do after. They also discuss business divorces and why even sophisticated executives become emotionally irrational when a partnership falls apart, how Paul filed an amicus brief on behalf of Chris Kyle's estate in the American Sniper lawsuit after watching the movie and feeling compelled to do something, what appellate argument looks like when a federal judge peppers you at the podium for two hours straight in Utah, how to preserve a trial record for appeal without the other side knowing that's what you're doing, and why automotive supplier disputes with $125 million on the table taught him that the size of the number is never what makes a case feel heavy — it's knowing that a loss means people lose their jobs. Paul Mersino is the CEO of Butzel, one of America's oldest law firms, founded in Detroit in 1854, with nine offices across Michigan and Washington DC. Connect with Paul Mersino: butzel.com [email protected] Detroit, Michigan Chapters 00:00 Introduction to Paul Mersino 00:41 Taking over a 170-year-old firm at 39 — the conversation that made it real 02:52 A top salesman just quit and is already calling my clients — what do I do in 48 hours 04:01 How enforceable are non-competes in 2025 and how has the law shifted 05:20 Trade secrets versus non-compete — how do you know the difference 06:43 What if the employee just carries everything in their head — how do you prove misuse 08:06 The fastest legal tool to stop a former employee — the TRO explained 09:30 What happens in the 14 days after a TRO is granted — mini trials and evidentiary hearings 10:30 The mistakes business owners make in the first week that kill their own case 11:47 Someone I've done business with for years just breached a major contract — what's my shot at recovery 12:45 Business divorces — what litigation looks like when a partnership falls apart 14:44 Walking clients through what litigation actually feels like before they commit to it 16:04 When one side wants to settle and the other won't budge — how do you move them 16:49 Counseling versus lawyering — and why the distinction matters in business disputes 18:24 What do you do when your own client is the unreasonable one 19:48 What separates the cases that win big from the ones that don't 21:31 Bench trials versus jury trials — how Butzel decides which to pursue 22:12 Automotive supplier cases with $125 million on the line — what that kind of exposure feels like 23:51 Telling opposing counsel that your client will lose their business — does it ever work 25:49 A trade secret case where the evidence looked bad — how the truth became the defense 27:03 The cover-up is worse than the crime — spoliation and destroying evidence explained 28:43 What a preservation order looks like and when the duty to preserve actually begins 29:18 Deleting emails before litigation starts and what the court does with that 30:42 Filing an amicus brief for Chris Kyle's estate in the American Sniper lawsuit 33:17 How the Eighth Circuit quoted his brief verbatim when overturning the multi-million dollar verdict 34:31 Defending trial wins all the way to the Michigan Supreme Court and the Federal Court of Appeals 35:51 What appellate argument looks like — two hours at the podium with a federal judge in Utah 36:39 Why you generally cannot introduce new evidence on appeal 38:30 Preserving the trial record for appeal and why you need appellate counsel early 39:30 Is Paul still taking cases while running a 175-attorney firm 40:25 Who is the ideal Butzel client 41:51 What Butzel does and doesn't handle — and where white collar defense and immigration fit in 43:15 Nine offices, eight in Michigan, one on K Street in Washington DC 44:02 How Butzel takes cases across the country through pro hac vice admission #PaulMersino #BusinessLitigation #TradeSecretLaw #TrustcastShow #DetroitLaw #AutomotiveLaw #BusinessDivorce