Our extensive experience in analyzing non-compete and confidentiality agreements has successfully served numerous clients, individuals and companies alike, in navigating through the legal quagmire concerning employers’ proprietary confidential information. We will provide insightful advice and strategies in dealing with the balance between the California public policy in favor of employee mobility and the competing interest in protecting an employer’s trade secrets. Although non-compete agreements are generally not enforceable in California under Business & Business Professions Code section 16600, complexity frequently thickens when an employee is subject to another state’s non-compete agreement where such agreements are sometimes valid and recognized. Related claims include unfair competition and misappropriation of trade secret. These issues would potentially affect:

• The employee who is making a job transition with potential confidential information from the former employer
• The employer who is hiring a new employee who may have confidential information from the former employer
• The employer who is losing an employee who may utilize its trade secret after the departure

We will provide a thoughtful analysis of the client’s specific situation, including whether there is an enforceable non-compete agreement (generally from outside of California), the existence and the scope of an employee’s confidentiality agreement, the specific information that could be potentially deemed trade secrets, and a strategic examination of the overlapping work responsibilities between an employee’s former position and the employee’s position at the new company. We will then devise strategies to achieve the client’s goals through counseling, negotiation or, if necessary, litigation.