Restrictive covenants

[Marta]

Hi there!

If the clause in the contact says:

You will not for a period of 12 months from the termination date, on behalf of a competing business:

a) have dealings with any Client'

b) have dealings with any Prospective Client

The person is employed as a Professional Development Lawyer, so rather responsible role in the company.
Are those non-compete or non-dealing clauses?

- - - Updated - - -

Sorry, I meant non-soliciting or non-dealing..

[teaboy2]

Re: Restrictive covenants

If there is nothing referring a geo-location included in the terms, then they are not valid. Basically without a geo-location limiting you from going to work for an employer withing say a radius of x miles, a town, district or county (though county maybe too broad anyway), then the terms would be deemed as covering the whole of the UK, making them to broad and therefore unfair terms.

Off course it would be advisable to avoid known customers of previous employer, but if those customers where to decide to stop using the other company off there own choosing and seek to use your services instead, well that would make them fair game - So long as you had not contacted them yourself with a view of offering your services too them and instead it was they that contacted you first.

As for prospective customers, well if your not working for that company anymore then how the hell are you going to know who they have on their list of prospective customers? Answer is, your not going to know! So again too broad, they might as well say everyone in the UK is a prospective customer of there's, which technically we very well could all be a future customer of theirs!

So unless there is term limiting the restrictive covenants to a geo-location (or radius from what was your place of work when you worked for the other company) then they are too broad and unenforceable!