Restrictive Covenants and Unfair Competition

In today’s business environment, theft of valuable assets and the loss of years of goodwill is often but a mere mouse-click away. Our proactive approach is fundamental to ensuring that our clients are prepared for and can address effectively the worst employee or employee group separations.  When employees do violate their contractual or other legal obligations to our clients, we act swiftly, efficiently, and effectively, and we have an established track record of success in lawsuits on behalf of entities across a variety of industries, from Fortune 100 companies to small family owned businesses.  We also have successfully helped employers who recruit and hire new employees, when faced with threatened or actual legal action from the employees’ prior employer.

In addition to litigating as necessary, our team collaborates with clients to help them maximize their present and future competitive advantage in their industry, including by:

• 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 steps to decrease the risk of present and existing 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.
• 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.
• Advising employers on matters involving the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, a long-established law that has both criminal and civil sanctions to protect employers when an employee or former employee accesses a computer “without authorization.” 

We also analyze employee departures to competitive businesses to determine an optimal response. This includes investigating potential unfair competition by the departing employees, preserving electronic trail data and obtaining appropriate forensic analysis and strategizing with the client to recommend the best options for minimizing interference from departing employees.