Sean Ryan McTigue is a Partner at Bartko Pavia LLP and a member of the firm’s Litigation Practice. He represents clients in high-stakes disputes in state and federal courts and in AAA and JAMS arbitrations. Sean’s practice focuses on complex commercial litigation involving trade secrets, intellectual property, and corporate governance, including matters where the key evidence is technical—source code, forensic device imaging, and data-driven software systems. Sean has been a key member of trial teams in some of the firm’s most significant results.
He was instrumental in helping obtain an $845 million trade secret judgment for ASML in one of the largest trade secret victories in U.S. history, and he helped secure a $222.7 million jury verdict for Zest Labs against Walmart—the largest in Arkansas history. Sean drove discovery strategy and forensic investigations, developed and presented expert testimony (including damages), and helped translate complex technical issues into clear, persuasive narratives for judges and juries. Sean is known for hands-on case leadership and practical problem-solving under time pressure. He routinely manages local counsel, expert witnesses, and litigation vendors; designs litigation-hold and collection strategies; and prepares senior executives and other key witnesses for deposition and trial.
Sean also serves as the firm’s Innovation Attorney as of August 2025, leading responsible adoption of generative-AI tools across the firm, including drafting internal acceptable-use guidance and delivering trainings; he previously served as acting Interim Director of IT during a leadership transition.
Sean earned his J.D. from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law, where he received the Prosser Prize in Torts and competed nationally in moot court, reaching the final round of the National Moot Court Competition and the Constance Baker Motley semifinal round. During law school, Sean externed for Justice Mark B. Simons of the California Court of Appeal and clerked in the Major Crimes Division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Oakland.