Our lawyers have extensive experience in one of the most rapidly evolving areas of employment law – employee restrictive covenants.  We help our clients proactively protect their assets through the creation and enforcement of restrictive covenants -- including non-compete agreements and non-solicitation and confidentiality restrictions -- and counsel them in employee raiding, unfair competition and computer fraud and abuse matters.

Over the past 30 years, our lawyers have successfully assisted hundreds of businesses and employees with restrictive covenants.  In today’s business environment, theft of valuable assets may be but a mere mouse-click away; this proactive protection is fundamental not only to the success but also to the survival of our clients.  We also have an established track record of success in lawsuits and arbitrations on behalf of entities of every size across a variety of industries, from Fortune 100 companies to small family-owned businesses, as well as individuals who have been sued or threatened with suit, often with their new employer.

The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) is a long-established law that is becoming an important weapon in an employer’s arsenal of protection where an employee or former employee accesses a computer “without authorization.”  The CFAA has both criminal and civil sanctions -- employers can and should take steps to capitalize on the act to safeguard against an exiting employee’s potential misuse of confidential information.

The law on CFAA is evolving; to use this protection to its full extent employers must take steps at the outset to define employees’ access to confidential information.  Additionally, we advise employers on developing appropriate steps to monitor and minimize the employees’ continued use of confidential information following employment.  Our group works with clients to assess the employer’s potential vulnerability to a CFAA claim on the hiring end, and evaluate and leverage the potential use of the CFAA to prevent misappropriation of confidential information in terminations.

Through quick, thorough and knowledgeable investigation techniques, using forensic experts as necessary, we have been able to secure swift and favorable relief for our clients in a wide variety of cases.  We are relentless in working to minimize future damages and pursuing recompense for the damages already incurred, as appropriate.

We collaborate with clients to help them maximize their present and future competitive advantage in their industry, including:

  • Drafting agreements with non-competition, non-solicitation and trade secret and confidential information protections to ensure that the employer is protected and the agreement is enforceable in the event of litigation through the use of customized contractual restriction strategies and clauses;
  • Formulating strategies tailored to the client’s needs that maximize both the enforceability of agreements, policies and practices in place after employment, and employee compliance with protections during employment to maintain the client’s competitive edge;
  • Counseling companies on the steps they can take to decrease the risk of present and exiting employees misappropriating trade secrets and confidential information and to increase employee compliance with post-termination obligations;
  • Advising employers concerning the hiring of employees to ensure the least possible interference from former employers; and
  • Reviewing the enforceability of non-competition and non-solicitation agreements in the context of hiring executives, as well as the purchase and sale of businesses.

We analyze employee departures to competitive businesses to determine an optimal response, including:

  • Investigating potential unfair competition by the departing employees;
  • Ensuring the preservation of electronic trail data and, where indicated, obtaining appropriate forensic analysis; and
  • Strategizing with the client to recommend the best options for minimizing interference from departing employees.

We pride ourselves on our strategic approach, deep understanding of the law, focus on our clients’ goals and objectives, and our strong national litigation capabilities and trial experience.

Among our successes, we have:

  • Developed novel legal theory under the Lanham Act and RICO in an action filed in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania against two former employees resulting in an injunction and seven-figure settlement;
  • Pursued an action in New Jersey Superior Court against 13 former employees. Through aggressive discovery, we achieved a consent order resulting in a complete bar from employment with the new employer;
  • Defeated applications for temporary restraining orders (TROs) filed against a global financial services firm in several California superior court actions that alleged violation of trade secrets and employee-raiding resulting from alleged solicitation of competitors' brokers;
  • Favorably resolved a complaint and motion for preliminary injunction as part of a larger business transaction involving a collaborative effort between our litigation team and lawyers from our Corporate & Securities and Corporate Tax groups;
  • Enforced the exclusivity provisions of the employment agreement for the nation’s largest, publicly traded Hispanic-controlled media and entertainment company through arbitration of a challenge by a morning drive-time star disc jockey;
  • Defended against a complaint in the Circuit Court of Cook County to enjoin our client and former customers of the plaintiff from doing business together based on restrictive covenants in customer agreements. We successfully defended a TRO and also prevailed in plaintiff’s emergency appeal to the appellate court before the case settled;
  • Secured an offer of judgment in a suit we brought in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois against former employees of our client, a biomedical device manufacturer, which sought damages for alleged breach of an employment contract, employee-raiding clause and misappropriation of trade secrets;
  • Resolved an action brought against a former employee of our client -- an international staffing company -- and her new employer alleging that the former employee violated the non-competition, customer non-solicitation, and other provisions of her restrictive covenant agreement with our client, which resolution included the new employer making a sizable payment to our client and agreeing to a future restrictive covenant applicable to the corporate defendant’s entire regional office;
  • Brought an action in the Circuit Court of Cook County seeking injunctive relief and damages against the new employer and several former officers and managers concerning the raiding of an entire Chicago office. The suit settled when the competitor closed the Chicago operation after the suit was filed;
  • Settled (with a motion to dismiss pending) a suit against a professional staffing firm and its new employee brought by the employee’s former employer in the Circuit Court of Cook County for alleged breach of restrictive covenants and misappropriation of trade secrets; and
  • Brought and then settled on terms favorable to our client an action in the Circuit Court of Cook County that sought injunctive relief and damages on behalf of a large parking company that included claims for trade secret misappropriation, breach of contract and breach of fiduciary duty against a former executive who started a competitive business.