In Seyfarth’s seventh installment of the 2022 Trade Secrets Webinar Series, Seyfarth partners Jeremy Cohen and Kevin Mahoney focused on trade secret and client relationship considerations in the banking and financial services industry.

As a conclusion to this webinar, we compiled a summary of takeaways:

  • When it comes to protecting your secrets, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” Act proactively and consistently in protecting your trade secrets.
  • Create a culture of confidentiality.
  • Make sure newly-hired employees comply with their obligations to former employer as the consequences can be costly.
  • Pay attention to evolving state and federal laws affecting enforceability of restrictive covenants.
  • For financial firms and institutions, it is important to understand the interplay between FINRA and the court system. Although the ultimate decision maker will be a FINRA arbitration panel, firms and institutions can still receive significant benefits from pursuing injunctive remedies in a court of law.
  • If you are thinking about joining the Protocol for Broker Recruiting, be sure to review your existing agreements before doing so in order to understand what protections you may be giving up once you join the Protocol.

You can view the recording and the slide deck on the Seyfarth website.