Protecting Your Companys and Your Clients Rights with Restrictive Covenants, Non-Disclosure Agreements, Non-Competes, No-Solicitation and Confidentiality Agreements

OVERVIEW

This webinar will introduce you to the procedures to protect confidential information, and through examples and recent case law explain how the clauses should be written, how they can best be enforced, and what are the legal pitfalls of misuse.

Regarding the pitfalls of restrictive covenant agreement, consider the following:

Can you go to jail for engaging in a casual conversation at a trade show? This may sound absurd. But suppose that conversation is with an acquaintance at a company that competes with you for HR talent? Over drinks the two of you agree not to poach one another’s key employees. You may have opened yourself up for criminal, as well as civil, liability under U.S. anti-trust laws. That’s precisely what the DOJ is threatening. Uncle Sam and many state governments are turning hostile toward non-compete restraints on employees and independent contractors.

Confidentiality agreements in settlements of employee claims are under assault. And, worst of all, “no poaching” promises between companies, even if in completely different businesses, are being targeted for criminal anti-trust liability.

WHY SHOULD YOU ATTEND

On the plus side, in our IT age ---- when an employee can walk out the workplace door with your most valuable proprietary information and trade secretes on a flash drive in her/his pocket and walk across the street to your biggest competitor --- these provisions are crucial shields. But to be effective they need to be properly drafted and appropriately negotiated.

Whether placed in an employment contract or an employee handbook, they must be reasonable and supported by suitable consideration. A movement is afoot at both the federal level and in many states to restrict, or outright outlaw, restrictive covenants in employment contracts. Federal and state governments are sowing mind fields that you need to navigate to use these valuable tools and procedures to protect confidential information.

AREAS COVERED

• How to protect your business from competitors and how to hold onto key employees within the letter of the law
• Which employee non compete agreement the courts will enforce and what consideration you have to provide the job applicant or current employee in return
• How to draft a confidentiality clause that covers all your proprietary information
• How to prepare for the inevitable data theft and how to respond in the crucial first 48 hours after it happens
• Remedies for misappropriation of IP and employee raiding

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

Employers have available a broad spectrum of covenants and clauses tailor-made to protect the organization’s intellectual property, proprietary information, and valuable human resources from misappropriation by current employees. This tool-bag includes, restrictive covenant agreement, non-disclosure agreements (NDAs), employee non compete agreement, no-solicitation provisos, and confidentiality clauses.

Knowing when and how to use each of these tools effectively --- and legally --- is a critical skill set in our IT age.

WHO WILL BENEFIT

• In-House Counsel
• Human Resources
• Labor Relations
• Affirmative Action Officers
• Contract Administrators

SPEAKER

Jim Castagnera holds an M.A. in Journalism from Kent State University, and a J.D. and Ph.D. (American Studies) from Case Western Reserve University.  He practiced law for 36 years, before retiring in June 2019: 10 years as a labor, employment and intellectual-property attorney with Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr; 3 years as general counsel for Wharton Econometric Forecasting Associates; 23 years as associate provost & legal counsel for academic affairs at Rider University.