3 Tips For Effective Restraints Of Trade

Recently a number of stoushes about the enforcement of post-employment restraints of trade – including one that captivated the legal industry for many months last year – have played out publicly.

Their high profile nature means it is timely for big business to re-evaluate their restraints of trade to make sure they are effective – emphasised by the fact we are seeing movement in many industries (including the legal industry) picking up pace as teams relocate as a result of mergers and the continued impact of globalisation.

Restraint of trade provisions are common in many employment contracts, but whether or not a business takes steps to hold an outgoing employee to account is a different question. This can be for a range of reasons – for example, not wanting to be the "bad guy", or where the relationship has fractured to a point where culturally, both parties are happy to move on.