Peter A. Steinmeyer To Conduct Webinar On July 10, 2012 Regarding "Hiring a Competitor's Employees: Avoiding Legal Pitfalls"

Peter A. Steinmeyer of Epstein Becker & Green, P.C. will be speaking in an upcoming live phone/web seminar entitled "Hiring a Competitor’s Employees: Avoiding Legal Pitfalls" scheduled for Tuesday, July 10, 1:00pm-2:30pm EDT.

As readers of this blog well know, hiring an employee from a competitor involves a great deal of risk due to the employee's access to the competitor's trade secrets, customers and other employees. Because of this, a competitor is likely to take aggressive measures to protect its proprietary information and resources from the new employer.

Key employees are often bound by restrictive covenants with the competitor, usually in the form of noncompete, nondisclosure or nonsolicitation agreements. Such restrictions could limit the employee's value to the new company and put the new employer at risk of suit for trade secret misappropriation or breach.

Counsel to employers considering hiring from a competitor can provide guidance on the extent of the risk of the hiring and on steps to minimize the employer's exposure. The more transparent the recruitment and hiring process, the less likely the new employer will be subject to liability.

In the upcoming webinar, Jessica Brown, Partner at Gibson Dunn & Crutcher and Peter A. Steinmeyer, Member at Epstein Becker & Green, will provide guidance to counsel to understand and mitigate risks for clients hiring an employee from a competitor. The panel will explain best practices to decrease litigation exposure and will highlight key defenses to competitor suits.

The panel will review these and other key questions:

• What risks are inherent in hiring key employees from a competitor?
• What special considerations come into play when a new employee is subject to a noncompete, nondisclosure or nonsolicitation agreement with a competitor?
• What are some best practices for employers to follow when hiring a competitor's employee to protect the company and avoid litigation?
• What potential claims might the competitor bring against the new employer—and what are some effective defenses to those claims?

Following the speaker presentations, you'll have an opportunity to get answers to your specific questions during the interactive Q&A.

For more information or to register, click here, or call 1-800-926-7926 ext. 10 (mention code: ESZEU1-PZB2AZ).