Thomas Rechen JD

Thomas Rechen JD General Information

Biography

Mr. Thomas Rechen serves as a Partner at McCarter & English. Mr. Rechen served as Partner at YMCA of Metropolitan Hartford. He is an accomplished trial lawyer and business litigator with over two decades of experience handling commercial disputes on behalf of public and private companies in Connecticut and across the nation. He is well known among the Connecticut state and federal judiciary as a result of his experience in the courtroom and his leadership positions within the Connecticut and Hartford County Bar Associations. According to Chambers USA, "He is effective, very committed with strong integrity and ethics -- outstanding." He is also recognized as "a very able litigator and good strategic lawyer," and is highlighted for his strength in construction and intellectual property disputes. Tom's practice includes the full range of complex civil litigation matters -- intellectual property, trade secret, business tort, computer privacy and security, restrictive covenant, trade regulation and unfair competition claims. His clients have included Fortune 50 retailers, product manufacturers, technology companies, public and quasi-public agencies, professional service firms, financial institutions, construction firms and non-profit organizations. Tom also represents property owners and developers in commercial real estate and leasing disputes. He has extensive experience in state and federal courts and arbitral forums, including numerous jury verdicts, bench decisions and arbitration awards. Tom's recent wins include (i) the successful prosecution of an action for injunction enforcing trade secrets and covenants against competition on behalf of a Connecticut employer; (ii) the successful defense of a California based business in an injunction action seeking to enforce a non-solicitation agreement (Tom was successful in having the non-solicitation agreement declared unenforceable at the temporary injunction stage of the proceedings on the grounds that the plaintiff could not prove a legally protectible interest or irreparable harm); (iii) the successful defense of a claim for breach of a distributorship agreement, resulting in withdrawal for no consideration on the eve of trial of all trademark, trade dress, false advertising, breach of contract, reformation and tortious interference claims; (iv) the successful prosecution on behalf of a quasi public state agency of legal malpractice, aiding and abetting and negligent misrepresentation claims against the agency's lawyers and lenders. Tom's experience and successes were recently recognized by the Litigation Counsel of America, which elected Tom as a Fellow. He is a founder of the LCA's Complex Commercial Litigation Institute. Tom is also a James W. Cooper Fellow of the Connecticut Bar Foundation, a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation, and a Connecticut Super Lawyer 2009-2014. He has been recognized as a Chambers USA, "Leaders in their Field" lawyer for 2012-2014. He is a past chair of the Connecticut Bar Association's Litigation Section, and serves on the CBA's Mentoring and Mandatory Continuing Legal Education Task Forces. He also presently serves on the Board of Directors for the Hartford County Bar Association. Tom frequently writes and lectures on intellectual property and business litigation matters. In addition, he has been a regular faculty member at the Connecticut Trial Advocacy Institute, sponsored by the National Institute for Trial Advocacy.