Alexander Y. Thomas

Partner

Education

  • Washington and Lee University School of Law, 1993, J.D.
  • Trinity College (Hartford, Connecticut), 1988, B.A., with honors

Professional Admissions / Qualifications

  • Virginia

Court Admissions

  • U.S. Supreme Court
  • U.S. Court of Appeals - Fourth Circuit
  • U.S. Court of Appeals - Ninth Circuit
  • U.S. District Court - Eastern District of Virginia
  • State Supreme Court - Virginia

Sandy is the Global Chair of Reed Smith's Litigation Department, which includes more than 850 lawyers practicing in 25 offices located in the United States, Europe, the Middle East and Asia, and serves on the firm’s Executive Committee. Previously, he served as the Vice Chair of Commercial Litigation and the Eastern Commercial Litigation Practice Group Leader.

Sandy is a commercial litigator and business counselor with particular experience in antitrust compliance and competition-related disputes. He has successfully defended clients accused of monopolization and attempted monopolization, trade secrets misappropriation, and violations of state and federal unfair competition laws. He regularly represents clients in investigations and enforcement actions brought by U.S. competition agencies, including merger review and enforcement. Sandy's trial experience extends to disputes arising out of breach of contract, including breaches of restrictive covenants, proprietary information agreements, shareholder agreements, and commercial leases. He has litigated such cases to successful bench and jury verdicts.

Sandy also has considerable experience advising corporate counsel on issues relating to the attorney-client privilege and has counseled numerous large corporate law departments on privilege and work-product challenges in internal investigations. He has written and spoken extensively on the subjects. The recent Chambers & Partners review declared that Sandy is "smart and organized and will get down into the details of a case."

Employment History

  • 1999 - Reed Smith
    • Chair, Litigation Department
    • Former Vice Chair, Commercial Litigation
    • Former Eastern Commercial Litigation Practice Group Leader
  • 1997 - Hazel & Thomas, P.C. (combined with Reed Smith in 1999)
  • 1994 - Trial Attorney in the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice
  • Special Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, Alexandria Division

Clerkships

  • Honorable Robert R. Merhige, Jr., U.S. District Court - Eastern District of Virginia

Honors & Awards

  • Selected by his peers and the publishers of Virginia Business Magazine's Legal Elite as one of Virginia's best "Civil Litigation" attorneys for 2009.

Professional Affiliations

  • Virginia Information Technology Investment Board - Member, Board of Directors (2005-2008)
  • Virginia Innovative Technology Authority/Virginia Center for Innovative Technology – Member, Board of Directors (2003-2005)
  • Potomac Valley Bank/Mercantile-Safe Deposit and Trust Company – Member, Board of Directors (2004-2007)