The ease with which talent can move from company to company presents a clear threat to the viability of any business whose key people are its principal assets. Our attorneys, steeped in the firm’s long history of serving “people businesses,” represent clients in disputes involving the enforcement of restrictive covenants and the protection of trade secrets. We are adept at representing either side of employee mobility disputes, whether seeking to enforce or strike these covenants. Our lawyers are widely known as thought leaders in this area, including several who have written leading treatises and participated in industry committees that shape evolving executive employment contract provisions.
Day-to-Day Dispute Avoidance
Our clients turn to us for pre-litigation counsel in connection with restrictive covenant disputes. As recognized authorities in this area, we are known for our ability to swiftly assess the risk associated with seeking to enforce or challenge restrictive covenants and develop creative approaches to resolving these disputes in light of each client’s unique needs.
Taking Charge in Mobility Cases
Disputes over employee mobility tend to be front-loaded and are generally won or lost in their fast-moving early stages. They usually involve one or more individuals moving from one company to a competing firm, or soliciting customers or employees of a former employer, with the former employer seeking an injunction preventing the move or the solicitation. The court’s decision to grant or deny that injunction informs the rest of the case. Accordingly, our clients count on our ability to file or oppose the injunction application and then resolve the dispute through settlement or, when necessary, litigation.
Protecting Trade Secrets
When key people walk out the door, they often take key secrets or other confidential or proprietary information with them. Our lawyers handle a large volume of these cases, and through our extensive experience, we are able to determine whether the information at issue is protectable and, if it is, develop a strategy for promptly securing that information and pursuing monetary and nonmonetary remedies.
Countering Personnel Raids
In the midst of or after so-called group lift-outs, where a company can be crippled by a raid on its workforce, our litigators go into action, piecing together how it happened and how to mitigate any damage. Working from each ex-employee’s contract, we create strategies to enforce post-employment restrictions, remediate the company’s loss and win compensation.
