Trade Secret Law Specialist
Trade Secret Law Specialist
Businesses today routinely insist that its employees, contractors and vendors enter into non-solicitation, no-hire, confidentiality agreements and other restrictive covenants. Employers have also used non-compete agreements to protect trade secrets and confidential information, customer lists and the expense of customer acquisition by prohibiting employees from working for a direct competitor for a specified period of time.
And though non-compete agreements are typically unenforceable in California, California courts have increasingly been willing to uphold such provisions when the parties agree to apply the law and jurisdiction of the out-of-state employer, where the other jurisdiction permits non-compete agreements.
Many employers also impose non-solicitation agreements to prohibit departing employees from soliciting other employees, clients, or contacts after leaving the company, or include no-hire provisions in agreements to prevent former employees or contractors from hiring away key employees that the employer has recruited and trained.
You need an attorney that understands which restrictive covenants are enforceable and which are not. The Burke Law Firm uses that specialized knowledge to help employers draft enforceable agreements, or to assert that such agreements are not enforceable on behalf of a contractor or former employee accused of violating such an agreement.
The Burke Law Firm also defends companies accused of utilizing a competitor’s trade secrets or confidential information; lawsuits asserting such violations are not uncommon when a business has hired a key employee of a competitor. Its the flip-side of the concern over having your former employees taking your business secrets out the door with them: your competitors are all-too-willing to believe that your new product or process was stolen from them through their former employees. Employers need a strong and emphatic defense against such claims in order to maintain their competitive edge.
Non-disclosure and confidentiality agreements must exactly comply with the law to be enforceable