A client's case against Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr over a partner's referral of a suit against her to his father has been refiled in Illinois state court.

Farva Jafri, a former client of Saul Ewing, filed a new legal malpractice complaint against the firm last week in the Circuit Court of Cook County. The attorney who previously represented her, John Gekas, had been a partner of Chicago-based Arnstein & Lehr, which merged with Saul Ewing last year.

Jafri has claimed damages of more than $30,000 as a result of Gekas allegedly providing confidential knowledge to his father, Constantine Gekas, as he represented Jafri's employer in a case against her.

Jafri originally filed her complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, but it was voluntarily dismissed Aug. 8. According to Jafri, John Gekas represented her and her former employer, Signal Funding LLC, from May 2017 to December 2017.

Jafri and Signal were co-defendants in a case brought by Oasis Legal Finance Operating Co. LLC. But according to Jafri's complaint, John Gekas failed to provide an engagement letter or conflict disclosure to Jafri.

Signal planned to sue Jafri for trade secrets violations, the complaint said, and John Gekas referred the case to his father, Constantine Gekas, on Dec. 1. Then on Dec. 7, John Gekas withdrew his representation of Jafri and Constantine Gekas served Signal's complaint on Jafri.

Jafri filed a motion to disqualify Constantine Gekas from representing Signal on Dec. 18, but he is still representing Signal, according to federal court records.

Signal alleged in its suit, which is pending in Northern District of Illinois, that Jafri sent company information to her personal email as she was preparing to leave her employment at Signal, where she was an officer.

Jafri's complaint says John Gekas and his father both “were partners in a law firm entity, Gekas Law LLP” when Constantine Gekas filed the complaint on Signal's behalf. She claims that Gekas violated his fiduciary duty by referring the case to his father.

“During the course of defendant Gekas' defense of plaintiff in the Oasis state court action, plaintiff disclosed to him unreservedly plaintiff's work at Signal Funding, and use of template documents from Oasis, which Oasis alleged constitute Oasis trade secrets,” the complaint said. “Constantine Gekas is presumed by law to have received confidential, attorney-client privileged information about plaintiff Jafri through his professional, business and familial relationship with defendant Gekas.”

Saul Ewing declined to comment on the new complaint. In a previous statement, the firm said it expected to deny the substantive allegations. “We believe that the facts will demonstrate that John C. Gekas, esquire and our law firm acted appropriately,” the firm said.