About This Blog
This Canadian law blog is devoted to the many and varied legal issues arising from the departure of employees from their employer to a competitor.
The blog’s visual – a chess set – is appropriate to the topic. Transferring one’s employment to a competitor or, alternatively, protecting your business from the departing employee, takes considerable thought and well-informed strategy.
In the absence of careful planning and strategy – informed by the law that governs these situations – employers expose themselves to loss of clientele and employees are at risk of lawsuits and damage awards against them. The new employer of the transferring employees can be swept up in litigation and disputes as well.
The content on CompetingEmployee.com is intended to appeal both to lawyers and non-lawyers. The section on Restrictive Covenants sets out a detailed legal analysis of the enforceability of non-compete and non-solicit clauses and related issues. It will be of more interest to the legal practitioner, as will be the “Latest Blog Posts”, which summarize recent court decisions.
Other sections – “Frequently Asked Questions”, “For Departed Employees”, “For Employers” — are written with non-lawyers in mind. They discuss some of the fundamental issues and considerations at play in relation to employee competition.
Finally, the “Investment Advisors” and “Insurance Brokers” sections focus on court decisions relating to employees in these industries who move from one employer to another. Movement within these sectors often is a cause of litigation and both employer and employees in these industries will find the case law summaries useful.
Whether you are a lawyer, employer, employee, academic or student looking for some insight, we hope you appreciate the site. We welcome comments and suggestions for improvements or cases to review.
Our law firm, Pulver Crawford Munroe LLP, has considerable experience advising clients and litigating cases in this area of the law. We welcome interested clients to contact us, as well as referrals from other law firms where conflicts of interest may prevent them from acting.
Our Employee Competition Practice Group
Effective, timely and cost-efficient advice is important when it comes to employee competition and experience matters. Our lawyers have deep experience advising both employers and employees. Group members include:
Dean writes extensively in the area of employee competition. He is the author of the Canadian Employee Competition Blog, an extensive review of the law of non-competes, non-solicits and other employee competition matters. His experience is recognized by his fellow lawyers in the employment bar, who frequently refer clients needing advice in this area to him.
Dean has advised several employers and employees in employee competition cases, in the investment advisor, insurance broker and several other sectors. He has advised more than 30 investment advisors and their new employers when they have moved their practices to new firms.
Published Cases
- National Bank Financial Inc. v Canaccord Genuity Corp., 2018 BCSC 857 Dean successfully defended three investment advisors and their new employer in defeating an application by their former employer for an injunction to prevent them from soliciting the clients in their book of business.
- National Bank Financial Ltd. v LePoidevin, 2018 BCSC 1175
- National Bank Financial Ltd. v LePoidevin, 2018 BCSC 1190 Dean represented 13 members of an investment advisory team and their new employer in legal proceedings brought against them by their former employer after they moved their practice.
Paul acts for a wide variety of employers and employees in the private and public sectors. He often appears as counsel in the British Columbia Supreme Court, as well as the British Columbia Court of Appeal, and federal courts. He regularly advises employers and executives in departure and competition matters, including pre-departure advice, and post-departure strategy and negotiation. If necessary, he litigates such matters from the initial claim and injunction application, through the liability and damages phases of trial.
Paul has represented employers and litigated employee competition matters in virtually every business sector, including banking, financial, insurance, commercial real estate, auto, manufacturing, industry, technology, hospitality and professional services (medical, legal and accounting).