Maya James specializes in defending against criminal prosecutions and investigations, high-stakes commercial litigation, and government enforcement actions in state and federal courts nationwide. She has extensive experience with bet-the-company and competitor litigation, including in unfair competition, fraud, breach of contract, trade secret, and antitrust matters. Representative victories include securing a sweeping injunction to protect her client’s trade secrets (prompting the defendant to voluntarily take its most profitable products off the market); shielding a high-profile bank executive from criminal and civil liability; invalidating nearly all of the purported trade secrets and patents that her client’s longtime licensing partner had tried to assert in order to extract higher royalty payments; convincing the DOJ to drop an antitrust investigation into her client; and defeating criminal subpoenas that posed an existential threat to her client, a nonprofit organization.
In addition to her commercial practice, Maya is deeply committed to her pro bono practice, representing indigent criminal defendants in proceedings to vacate murder convictions secured under a California felony-murder statute that has since been reformed. She established a unique pro bono partnership between our firm and public defender offices in California to help vacate felony murder convictions, through which the firm has successfully vacated convictions for seven individuals who have since been released from prison.
Prior to joining Keker, Van Nest & Peters, Maya served as a law clerk to Judge Jesus G. Bernal of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. Maya earned her J.D. from Stanford Law School and earned her undergraduate degree with distinction and Phi Beta Kappa from Stanford.
Cases of Note
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Nonprofit Institute v. Pharmaceutical Company
We represented a nonprofit research institute in its lawsuit against a giant pharmaceutical company regarding the latter’s refusal to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in royalties it was owed…
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Semiconductor Company v. Supplier
Following multi-stage arbitration proceedings between our client, one of the world’s largest technology companies, and a company that had licensed certain technology to it through a complex licensing agreement, we…
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United States v. Executive
We represented a senior executive of a national bank in an investigation involving three United States Attorneys’ Offices, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Federal Reserve Bank, and the Office…
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Genentech v. JHL Biotech
We represented Genentech as the victim of a massive trade secret theft by its former scientists and founders of JHL Biotech, which was developing biosimilar versions of Genentech’s cancer medicines….
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RingCentral, Inc. v. Dialpad, Inc.
We successfully defended cloud-based telephony and unified messaging provider Dialpad in a patent infringement action brought by competitor RingCentral in the Northern District of California. Dialpad obtained a ruling that…
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United States v. Founder
We represented a founder of a sustainable foods company in a criminal antitrust investigation. Following discussions and presentations to the DOJ, the investigation was dropped; no charges were filed.
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People of the State of California v. Prisoner
Our client was sentenced to death at age 25 for his participation in a robbery in which his co-defendant unexpectedly shot and killed the victim. After a two-day trial in…
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People v. Miles
We secured the release of Gennel Miles, Jr., who had spent 16 years in prison on a life sentence without parole on a murder conviction obtained under California’s former felony-murder…
News & Events
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Hims & Hers Says Privacy Policy, Disclosures Foil FTC Suit
Keker, Van Nest & Peters has asked a federal judge to dismiss a Federal Trade Commission suit against Hims & Hers Health Inc. arguing that the government ignored the company’s disclosures to manufacture…
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Keker Wins Freedom for Man Sentenced to Life Under Felony Murder Rule
A man imprisoned for 16 years under California’s former felony murder rule has been ordered released following a successful resentencing effort by Keker, Van Nest & Peters’ Felony Murder Resentencing Project, a…
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Disarming the Trial Penalty, One Sentencing Guideline at a Time
In the half century since the Supreme Court explicitly affirmed the constitutionality of plea bargaining, criminal trials have all but disappeared. This is due, in part, to the fact that the government has a nu…
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SCOTUS Favors Napue Over Brady in Rare Death Penalty Reversal in Glossip
In an article for the Daily Journal, partner Maya James and associate Max Alderman analyze the U.S. Supreme Court’s rare death penalty reversal in Glossip v. Oklahoma.
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California Tribes Sue Over Exclusive Right to Run Banked Casino Games
Keker, Van Nest & Peters is representing seven California tribes in suing casino card rooms throughout the state, accusing them of profiting from illegal gambling and asserting that tribes have exclusive rights…
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Keker, Van Nest & Peters Secures Release of Client Demetrius Howard After 30 Years in Prison
Law firm Keker, Van Nest & Peters is delighted to announce that pro bono client Demetrius Howard is home for the holidays after being released last week from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabil…
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Keker, Van Nest & Peters Marks 5 Years Of Calif. Resentencing Work
Law360’s Pro Bono Spotlight features Keker, Van Nest & Peters’ Felony Murder Resentencing Project, as it marks five years of helping imprisoned Californians petition to reduce their life sentences following the…
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Pro Bono Showcase: Keker Pursues Justice with Felony Murder Resentencing Project
In celebration of National Pro Bono Week, we highlight the firm’s Felony Murder Resentencing Project, which has helped at least six incarcerated individuals overturn their life sentences.
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Shout-Out: Keker Trial Team Scores Victory for Scripps Research Institute and Two Scientists
Am Law Litigation Daily gave a shout-out to a Keker trial team for defeating a lawsuit brought by venture capitalist John Carke against The Scripps Research Institute and two award-winning chemists.
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Keker, Van Nest & Peters Promotes New Partners and Of Counsel
Keker, Van Nest & Peters is pleased to announce that the firm has elevated associates Andrew Bruns, Cody Gray, Maya James, Christina Lee, and Franco Muzzio to Partner, Kristen Lovin to Of Counsel and Senior IP …
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LA DA Halts Opposition to New Felony Murder Law Until Supreme Court Weighs In
When it came to challenging a controversial felony murder bill that went into effect Jan. 1, 2019, Southern California prosecutors took a harder line than many of their counterparts in the rest of the state. Bu…
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Genentech Dispute Highlights Growing Importance of Trade Secrets for Life Sciences Companies
The issues at stake in the case illustrate the growing importance of trade secrets protection to life sciences companies and the IP professionals who serve them.
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Trade Secrets Case Sees Biotech Shutdown Biosimilar Production
Genentech reaches a settlement agreement with JHL Biotech, which sees the latter cease development of biosimilars to Genentech’s products.
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Genentech Gets Taiwanese Co. to Abandon Biosimilars
Taiwan’s JHL Biotech has agreed to stop developing copycat versions of four Genentech biologics as part of a deal to end high-stakes trade secrets litigation.
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Publications & Speaking Engagements
Disarming the Trial Penalty, One Sentencing Guideline at a Time, The Champion, April 2026, co-authored with Steven Ragland and Max Alderman
“Trade Secret Litigation in the Age of AI,” Keker, Van Nest & Peters CLE Annual Workshop, March 2026
SCOTUS Favors Napue Over Brady in Rare Death Penalty Reversal in Glossip,” Daily Journal, March 2025, co-authored with Max Alderman
Presenter, “Trade Secret Year in Review,” Berkeley Center for Technology and Law, 2022
“Combatting Police Discrimination in the Age of Big Data,” Sharad Goel, Maya Perelman, Ravi Shroff, & David Alan Sklansky, 20 NEW CRIM. L. REV