Sara Schretenthaler Staha

Sara Schretenthaler Staha is a Dallas labor, employment and benefits attorney who works with clients handling complex commercial, employment and intellectual property litigation matters. Ms. Staha has experience defending claims of discrimination and retaliation, wage-and-hour claims, breach-of-contract and wrongful-termination cases, and providing advice and counsel on employment matters. She is well versed in handling complex pretrial procedures and electronic discovery matters, and focuses on client-centered results that are cost efficient and effective. Her litigation experience covers all major aspects of the life cycle of a case, including dispositive motion practice, post-trial proceedings, appeal and enforcement of judgments.

In addition, Ms. Staha assists companies with obtaining or defending against temporary restraining orders and temporary/preliminary injunctions to prevent departing employees or competitors from violating non-disclosure, non-compete or non-solicitation agreements, or from using their former employer's trade secrets. She also counsels companies and individuals unfairly accused of trade secret misappropriation and related claims.

Ms. Staha provides clients proactive and practical recommendations to avoid litigation with their employees. She has represented local, national and multinational companies in federal and state courts. She also has experience successfully defending appeals in federal and state courts.

Ms. Staha also assists clients in complex intellectual property litigation including patent and trade secret litigation. She has represented clients in a wide range of technologies, including e-commerce, light emitting diodes, industrial lubricants, building materials and fracking logistics technologies.

Prior to joining Holland & Knight, Ms. Staha began her legal career representing a broad range of companies and individuals facing U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) investigations, and companies involved in multidistrict product liability litigation.

During law school, Ms. Staha served as a technical editor for the Baylor Law Review. She also was active in mock trial teams, serving as a brief writer and witness for the National Pretrial Competition and as a team member for the University of Missouri-Kansas City National Voir Dire Competition. Ms. Staha also served as a judicial extern for the Honorable Jeffrey Manske for the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, Waco Division.