GMVHRA - 2015-09-10 - "Developments in the Law of Noncompetes and Other Post-Employment Restrictions"

Wednesday, September 10, 2015:

Pre-approved for 1.25 general HRCI & SHRM re-certification credits.

TOPIC: "Developments in the Law of Noncompetes and Other Post-Employment Restrictions"

Your VP of Business Development quit unexpectedly last week and you just learned that she joined your chief competitor.  You are excited about hiring a top-producing salesman with excellent customer contacts, but you learn that he is subject to a nonsolicitation agreement with his former employer.  You just received a letter from your competitor threatening suit unless you discharge a software engineer that you recently hired due to an alleged theft of key company data.  The SVP of engineering quit two weeks ago, and his entire department has begun a series of serial resignations.  What should you do next?

In today's highly mobile economy, protecting your customer relationships, proprietary information and trade secrets from misappropriation by former employees is a critical aspect of business operations.  Agreements that restrict post-employment conduct are a vital tool for protecting your company, but only if they are handled properly.  Are your organization’s noncompete and other restrictive agreements likely to be enforced?  Has your organization taken the necessary steps to maximize the protection that it can expect from its restrictive covenant program?  When is the last time your company reviewed its restrictive agreements to ensure that they reflect recent and significant changes in the law?

 Hosted by Mark Whitney, an expert in the field of restrictive covenants and trade secret protection, this seminar will:

• examine employer strategies for implementing an effective restrictive covenant program;
• review recent legislative reform efforts of Massachusetts and New Hampshire to alter the law governing noncompete agreements;
• review recent developments in restrictive covenant law and evaluate how they impact your organization; and
• discuss drafting and contract language tips and best practices.

Our Speaker: Mark Whitney

Mark is a partner at Morgan, Brown & Joy, LLP in Boston, and practices in the field of employment law, specializing in management representation. Mark leads MB&J’s Noncompete, Trade Secret, and Unfair Competition practice. A significant part of Mark's practice involves helping companies protect their valuable trade secrets and business relationships. Mark assists clients with prevention and strategic advice, including development and implementation of critical policies, best practices, key agreements (noncompete, nonsolicitation, nondisclosure, inventions and developments, separation, and other employment-related agreements), hiring and other business strategy decisions. Mark regularly represents companies in court and arbitration proceedings concerning disputes over misappropriation of trade secrets, employee raiding, breaches of restrictive covenants, violations of fiduciary duty/duty of loyalty and related business torts, and other methods of unfair competition. Mark is the author of the New England Non-Compete and Trade Secrets Digest, a blog that covers developments in the law of Restrictive Covenants, Trade Secrets, Unfair Competition, Employee Mobility, and Business Torts in the six New England states. Mark is a member of the Advisory Board of Brooklyn Law School’s Trade Secrets Institute. He is an active member of the Trade Secret and Interference with Contracts Committee of the ABA’s Section of Intellectual Property Law, and authors the First Circuit Trade Secret Law Update for the ABA IP law section’s annual meeting.  Mark is rated AV^® Preeminent™ by Martindale-Hubbell’s peer review rating system and has been recognized as either a Rising Star^® or SuperLawyer^® by Thomson Reuters’ SuperLawyer Magazine since 2005, and is admitted to practice in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and other jurisdictions.

Our Sponsor:  Interested in sponsoring, contact Julie Moore at jmoore@employmentpg.com

Schedule:
  

8:00 AM - 8:30 AM Check-In & Networking
8:30 AM - 8:45 AM Welcome New Members & Guests

The Hartleb Technology Building is on the right after entering the main entrance.  Please park in the parking lot across the street from the Technology Building

Directions:  Located at exit 52 off Interstate 495 on Elliott Street in Haverhill. Coming from the north, (on Interstate 495 south) take exit 52 and turn right. Take the first left onto Elliott Street. The entrance to the campus is on your left. Coming from the south, (on Interstate 495 north) take exit 52 and turn left. Take the first left onto Elliott Street. The entrance to the campus is on your left.