Protecting confidential and proprietary business information, good will and relationships with clients, customers and key employees are matters of utmost concern to any successful business. Theft of trade secrets, solicitation of clients and customers, raiding of key employees, employee disloyalty and breaches of fiduciary duties can cause irreparable loss.
Our lawyers have extensive experience in helping clients utilize contractual provisions and other business procedures to provide maximum protection available under the law, such as non-competition and confidentiality agreements and document control policies. We also counsel individuals seeking better opportunities and businesses contemplating hiring personnel from their competitors on how to comply with the law and minimize the risk of litigation, and, if warranted, on challenging restrictive covenants that may be applicable to them.
When litigation occurs, it is often fast-moving, fact-intensive and emotional. Sound counsel is especially important in view of advances in communication technologies which often give employees easy access to electronic files.
We provide assistance from several perspectives:
- We draft comprehensive employment contracts for all levels of employees, including officers, middle management and sales employees. These contracts routinely include covenants restricting post-employment competition, the solicitation of employees and customers and the use or disclosure of proprietary information.
- We litigate in state and federal courts to protect our clients’ confidential information and customer relationships. With a full appreciation for the need to act quickly but with a solid legal basis, our lawyers have obtained temporary and permanent court orders restraining current and former employees from misusing confidential information, working for a competitor or soliciting our clients’ customers or employees.
- We assist businesses seeking to hire personnel from their competitors, even when such personnel are subject to non-competition covenants. Our work in this area includes negotiating agreements between our client and its competitor that allow our client to hire the employee while minimizing the risk of litigation or obtaining favorable resolution when litigation has resulted.