While disputes over trade secrets and restrictive covenants are conceptually distinguishable, they often are intertwined, as is the case when a company is losing a key executive to the direct competition or, conversely, seeking to hire an attractive candidate who may be bound by restrictive covenants in an employment agreement with a competitor. In these instances, a company may find itself a plaintiff one week and a defendant the next. Thus it is crucial to know the landscape and pitfalls in each instance.
These situations will be the focus this month of a CLE seminar titled Non-Competes and Trade Secrets - Traps for the Unwary being planned by the Greater New York Chapter of the Association of Corporate Counsel.
The program will take place on Thursday, May 19 from 12:30 to 2 p.m. at the offices of Nixon Peabody LLP, 437 Madison Avenue, New York City.
Often these cases are not solely about business; they frequently become personal as well, commanding the attention of general counsel and top executives. Litigants seek injunctive relief from judges who sit "in equity" and apply principles of fundamental fairness grounded in state law precedent. There are many traps for the unwary. This program will seek to provide guidance in this high-profile area of uncertain jurisprudence.
The speakers will include Jerome P. Coleman and Amy Ventry, both from Nixon Peabody; David Gorfinkle, vice president and associate general counsel, Citicorp Investment Services, and Karen Mitchell, vice president and counsel-legal and compliance, Credit Suisse First Boston.
There is no registration fee for the session. For information on available CLE credits, see the Bulletin Board of The Metropolitan Corporate Counselwebsite at www.metrocorpcounsel.com.
For reservations, call Robert Stoy at (212) 940-3019 or email [email protected].