Fox Rothschild and a New Jersey partner in the firm are accused in a suit of stealing trade secrets from its drug company client, and then sharing the information with a competing firm.

The plaintiff, Beta Pharma Inc. of Princeton, New Jersey, says that after it retained Fox Rothschild's Wansheng "Jerry" Liu to file patent applications for a new cancer drug, Liu allegedly shared details of the product with a friend at a rival company.

Beta Pharma allegedly went to great lengths to keep details of its new drug confidential, the suit said. For instance, it limited the number of people with access to confidential documents and materials, ensuring that its sensitive documents are encrypted and password protected; and required employees with access to confidential information to sign nondisclosure agreements. Further, laboratory activities were recorded in notebooks that are stored in locked cabinets, the suit claimed.