Two personal injury law firms in Boston are suing each other

Two competing Boston law firms say they may be entitled to financial compensation — from each other.

Sokolove Law, founded by Jim Sokolove in 1979, is suing Keith Glover, a former employee, and Jason Stone Injury Lawyers (JSIL), where Glover now works as a chief operating officer, for allegedly stealing trade secrets. In a complaint filed August 13, Sokolove claims the case boils down to “the wholesale theft of a business model.”

Glover, who the firm claims grew “from a mattress salesman into a six-figure legal operations professional” as a director at Sokolove, allegedly copied the firm’s “digital operations playbook” and brought it to JSIL after joining them, according to the complaint. Sokolove attributes the allegedly stolen information to the firm’s success and JSIL’s recent growth.

“Before Defendants’ unlawful use of Sokolove’s trade secrets, JSIL was a 20-person firm with two offices,” the complaint reads. “Fueled by Sokolove’s trade secrets, JSIL has nearly tripled in size since Glover handed over the stolen materials.”

The stolen secrets mainly stem from an internal website for case managers, which the complaint alleges Glover copied in full, and a series of documents detailing the firm’s internal procedures. A Sokolove employee allegedly discovered in April that the website was still being used — but not by the firm.

Sokolove claims that by using the trade secrets, JSIL created a “digital signal” alerting the firm’s servers, leaving records of more than 53,000 unauthorized uses of the information within the past two years. After investigating further, the firm allegedly found that the copied website was accessed daily by JSIL employees across all offices.

Stone’s firm also allegedly copied and reused Sokolove’s branding materials and marketing campaigns, according to the complaint.

When Sokolove discovered the records and confronted Glover, he allegedly admitted to stealing insider information; however, he allegedly claimed the materials were just “templates.” After being confronted, Glover and JSIL allegedly moved the website template so Sokolove would no longer be notified of its use, according to the complaint.

Despite the claims, a representative for JSIL says details are lacking.

“Glaringly absent from the complaint is a meaningful description of any specific content whatsoever that Jason Stone Injury Lawyers has actually used that resembles anything specific that Sokolove Law used,” Barry Pollack, an attorney representing JSIL, told Boston Business Journal in a statement Tuesday.

Russell Beck, Sokolove’s attorney in the case, did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday evening.

Less than two weeks after Sokolove filed the complaint, JSIL has officially brought forth a countersuit for deceptive practices and conspiracy. A complaint filed Tuesday in the countersuit accuses Sokolove of “routine bait-and-switch” tactics as part of the firm’s business model as a call center for co-counsel firms rather than depending on practicing attorneys.

“Sokolove Law’s illegal business model consists of unfair and deceptive acts and omissions that have directly and foreseeably caused, and continue to cause, damage to Stone PС for which Sokolove Law is liable,” the complaint reads.

These alleged “deceptive acts and omissions,” according to JSIL, include the use of “fictitious third parties” for advertising along with operating several other specialized call center websites which covertly tie back to Sokolove. JSIL also alleges that Sokolove misleads clients to hire law firms which have been entangled in fraud and other unethical practices.

The complaint also claims that Sokolove conspired with other firms to engage in “unfair competition” and directly harm JSIL. Though Stone’s complaint does not directly address Sokolove’s lawsuit, it states that the firm has “engaged in overt threats to Stone PC about its marketing practices” and used Glover’s move as “a pretext for disparaging” JSIL.

In a statement Wednesday to Boston Business Journal, Sokolove called JSIL’s allegations “baseless” and the complaint an effort to “divert attention” from the initial lawsuit.

“Despite numerous requests, the Sokolove company has not identified any specific content that JSIL has actually used that originated anywhere but at JSIL,” Pollack, who also represents JSIL in the countersuit, told Boston.com. “I understand the Sokolove company has issued a statement predicting that a judge would side with it, but without denying they play a role as a sponsor or participant in the websites as further described in the Complaint.”