Nov 9 (Reuters) - Nixon Peabody and two of its attorneys have been sued by an Illinois technology firm claiming that the lawyers were part of a scheme to paint company executives as part of a international spy ring.

Filed in the Circuit Court of Cook County, Ill., on Monday, Lemko Corp and two of its executives allege that Nixon Peabody lawyers Mark Halligan, a partner, and Deanna Swits, an associate, falsely accused them of conspiring with a third person to smuggle secrets about Motorola Solutions technology to China.

The two Lemko executives are Nicholas Labun and Shaowei Pan, former Motorola employees who founded their own cellular technology company in 2002. The third person, Hanjuan Jin, is an ex-Motorola software engineer who is currently on trial in Chicago on criminal charges of stealing Motorola trade secrets and taking them to China. The executives are not parties to the criminal case.

Motorola filed its own lawsuit against Lemko and Jin in 2008 alleging that they conspired to misappropriate trade secrets. Nixon Peabody represents Motorola in the ongoing case, which is in Chicago federal court.

The Nov. 7 suit claims that Nixon Peabody helped the media publish false statements that implicated Lemko in the alleged document-stealing scheme and that tied company executives to Jin's conduct. "Thus began the Chinese spy ring myth," the complaint reads. The lawsuit also names Motorola and its senior corporate counsel Jeffrey Johnson as defendants.

'ATTEMPT TO REHASH' OLD ARGUMENTS

Motorola described Lemko's lawsuit as frivolous. "Lemko's recent action is simply an attempt to rehash some of its same arguments in a different forum," said a spokesman for the company.

Nixon Peabody declined to comment on the case.

Representing Lemko Corp, Labun and Pan is Raymond Niro, with Niro, Haller & Niro in Chicago. Niro said Wednesday that Nixon Peabody arranged for the Daily Herald, a suburban Chicago newspaper, to publish statements that the attorneys knew were false about his clients. He said the damages, which include lost business for Lemko, total about $1 billion. The paper was not named as a defendant.

Jin was arrested in 2007 at O'Hare International Airport and charged with attempting to steal Motorola secrets and take them to China. If convicted, she faces up to 15 years in prison. A naturalized U.S. citizen, she has waived her right to a jury trial.

The case is Lemko Corp. v. Motorola Solutions, No. 2011LO11566, Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois.

For the plaintiffs: Raymond Niro, Niro, Haller & Niro, Chicago.

For the defendants: Not immediately available.

(Reporting by Leigh Jones)

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