Nick Boyd
Associate
Nick Boyd
+1.404.817.8413
Overview
Nick Boyd is a trial and appellate attorney in Holland & Knight's Atlanta office who represents clients throughout the country in complex and high-stakes civil litigation matters. Mr. Boyd's practice focuses on intellectual property (IP) litigation, including trademark, copyright and trade secret disputes, disputes concerning non-solicitation and non-compete agreements, and allegations of employee piracy.
Another substantial part of Mr. Boyd's practice concerns disputes between the owners of closely held businesses. He also has substantial experience handling appeals in federal appellate courts, the Georgia Supreme Court and Georgia Courts of Appeal.
Mr. Boyd takes a keen interest in technological and market innovations and has published articles regarding the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the legal profession and investments in cryptocurrencies. He assists clients in a broad variety of industries, including the healthcare, energy, sports, education, construction and manufacturing sectors.
Prior to joining Holland & Knight, Mr. Boyd served as a judicial clerk for the Honorable R. Lanier Anderson III of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. During law school, Mr. Boyd was an editor and the book reviews chair of the Harvard Law Review.
Representative Experience
- Successfully appealed a $10 million jury verdict against a seafood producer on trade secret and other intellectual property (IP) claims before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, resulting in reversal and remand
- Successfully defended an award of summary judgment to a toy and game manufacturer on copyright and other IP claims before U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
- Defended a major construction contractor and several individual employees who had joined it from a competitor against allegations of employee raiding, breach of restrictive covenants, tortious interference with employment contracts and theft of trade secrets
- Achieved a favorable settlement for an employer that brought fraud claims against a former employee arising from the employee's nonperformance of work duties during the COVID-19 pandemic and the employee's acceptance of multiple incompatible positions with other firms
- Represented an educational supplier in a lawsuit alleging trademark infringement, theft of trade secrets and other claims against a former employee and competitor employee's new company
- Obtained dismissal of an arbitration and award of attorneys' fees on behalf of a closely held business on shareholder's claims of fraud, breach of fiduciary duty and breach of contract
- Achieved a favorable settlement for a privately held defense contractor defending against claims for breach of contract, fraud and other forms of equitable relief by a shareholder and former contracting partner
- Defended a national airport retailer against claims including breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty and fraud by a joint venture partner in federal court, resulting in settlement
- Successfully defended a summary judgment in favor of a state department of education on a constitutional challenge to funding legislation directing approximately $100 million per year to public charter schools; obtained a favorable decision limiting the ability of plaintiffs to bring similar suits against the client in the future
- Successfully appealed a $15 million judgment against an engineering, design and manufacturing company before the New York Supreme Court Appellate Division
- Obtained a reversal of both grant of summary judgment to insurer and denial of summary judgment to general contractor in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit in a coverage dispute arising from the subcontractor's improper installation of a parking lot
- Obtained an interlocutory (mid-case) review and reversal by the Georgia Court of Appeals of a case-dispositive discovery sanction that would have prevented the client from contesting its liability in a multimillion-dollar dispute; intervention led to a favorable settlement
- Successfully defended dismissal with prejudice in federal court of Title IX claims brought by a former student against a private university before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
- Obtained a ruling from the Georgia Court of Appeals reversing the trial court and granting summary judgment on a premises liability claim as a matter of law because there was no evidence of foreseeable criminal conduct
- Successfully defended, in the Georgia Court of Appeals, a favorable judgment for a metropolitan transit authority in a suit that attacked the authority's constitutional validity and revenue-raising powers
- Forced dismissal of a suit against Georgia's largest hospital system that sought to subject the system to asymmetric and anticompetitive disclosure regulation
- Brought a lawsuit on behalf of a hospital network against a Medicare Advantage organization to recoup underpayment of reimbursement for Medicare services, forcing a favorable settlement
- Successfully defended a decision of the Georgia Department of Community Health to grant a certificate of need (CON) for a hospital network to operate an ambulatory surgery center (ASC) serving underserved patients; obtained a favorable decision from the Georgia Court of Appeals and successfully opposed review by the Georgia Supreme Court
- Obtained a reversal and remand of the Georgia Department of Community Health's decision to grant a CON for a competitor to operate an ASC within the same geographical area as a client's ASC
- Successfully obtained a rare Georgia state court dismissal of all contractor's claims arising out of a renovation project, leading to a favorable settlement
- Successfully appealed a $15 million judgment against an engineering, design and manufacturing company before the New York Supreme Court Appellate Division
- Represented a general contractor in arbitration against a project owner, resulting in a successful multimillion-dollar recovery of all money owed under contract
- Counseled an insurer with respect to claims under a representations and warranties policy arising from allegations that the purchased company had installed defective products at multiple large construction projects in the years leading up to acquisition
- Obtained an order appointing a receiver over a distressed multifamily residential property in order to preserve the value of the client's interest in the property, following evidentiary hearing at which the property owner opposed the appointment of receiver
- Obtained orders appointing receivers over multiple distressed multifamily residential properties in Georgia state courts in order to preserve the value of the client's interest in the properties
- Obtained dismissal of a defendant's appeal from favorable judgment for the client in a quiet title action
- Successfully opposed interlocutory review of a Georgia state court order dismissing a plaintiff's entire complaint with prejudice, allowing litigation of client's counterclaims to go forward prior to appeal and forcing favorable settlement
- Advised a developer with regard to modifications to a billion-dollar contract with a municipality and development agency; the parties needed to modify their contracts at short notice to address an unforeseen eventuality; advised the client of the optimal strategy to preserve its rights to enforce a $600 million revenue stream through litigation
- Advised a public authority regarding the potential impact of legislative proposals on the status of bonds worth more than $1 billion
- Represented an agricultural producer in a nationwide antitrust class action litigation involving allegations of price-fixing and supply restrictions
- Won a summary judgment for a food products company in a contractual dispute with an equipment manufacturer after forcing voluntary dismissal of the manufacturer's suit filed in another state
- Advised an insurer on complex coverage and jurisdictional issues arising out of an incident on a cruise ship
- Successfully achieved dismissal of restauranteurs' claims that they were entitled to coverage for losses resulting from temporary closure during the COVID-19 pandemic under their commercial general liability policies
- Obtained a favorable settlement for an auto insurer facing a third-party bad faith claim for a fraction of the insurer's potential exposure
- Obtained dismissal of suit brought by a guest at a national hospitality company
Credentials
Education
- Harvard Law School, J.D., magna cum laude
- University of Edinburgh, M.Sc., Literature
- University of Nottingham, B.A., English, first class honors
Bar Admissions/Licenses
- Georgia
Court Admissions
- Supreme Court of Georgia
- Court of Appeals of Georgia
- All Superior Courts in Georgia
- All State Courts in Georgia
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
- U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia
- U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia
Memberships
- State Bar of Georgia
- Federal Bar Association
- American Bar Association
- Atlanta Bar Association
Honors & Awards
- The Best Lawyers in America guide, Atlanta Commercial Litigation Ones to Watch, 2023-2026
- Rising Star, Georgia Super Lawyers magazine, 2025
- Dean's Scholar Prizes, Harvard Law School, Federal Courts, 2016; Taxation, 2015; Administrative Law, 2014; Criminal Law, 2014; Public International Law, 2014; Civil Procedure, 2013