Ajamie represents employers and employees across a wide range of industries. We offer preventive counseling, and we litigate all facets of employment disputes. We advise clients in a number of industries, including manufacturing, banking and finance, insurance, real estate and oil and gas. Our clients range from start-ups to Fortune 500 companies.
We are available to counsel clients on noncompete agreements and restrictive covenants, confidentiality agreements, severance agreements, and anti-discrimination laws. On behalf of employers, we are prepared to bring actions to protect company trade secrets and to defend against claims of wrongful termination. We understand the sensitivity involved in dealing with personnel issues, and our lawyers exercise the upmost discretion in all employment matters.
Our lawyers also provide advice in drafting non-compete agreements and understanding the risks associated with hiring employees bound by such agreements, such as the risk of tortious interference with contractual relations.
However, certain states, such as Texas, have passed laws stipulating that employers cannot prevent their employees from working for a competitor based simply on an employment relationship. In these cases there are a variety of ways to protect a company’s proprietary information. For example, it is possible to create a confidentiality agreement that safeguards a company’s intellectual assets but does not interfere with an employee’s right to make a living. If an employee violates a confidentiality agreement, Ajamie attorneys will take all necessary steps to prevent additional details from being released. Our reputation as effective litigators gives us an edge in negotiations with firms who may be more inclined to avoid the risks of going to court.
Another strategy is to make sure critical information is classified as trade secrets. Ajamie’s lawyers are adept at developing strategies that protect these assets. We routinely identify areas of business information that can be classified as trade secrets, develop trade secret protection policies, and draft confidentiality agreements for use with third parties. If trade secrets are disclosed or stolen, our lawyers will pursue legal action as appropriate.
The firm takes an interdisciplinary approach to employment-related matters. We draw on the resources of our lawyers from other practice areas to determine the best course of action for our clients and to form the most effective litigation team.
Representative employment-related matters include:
- Settled for $79 million a federal court class action lawsuit against Wells Fargo & Company on behalf of its former financial advisors who were wrongfully forced to forfeit their deferred compensation when they left the company.
- Representing the subsidiary of an international corporation in connection with the illegal arrest of the corporation’s employees.
- Advising senior executives seeking employment benefits and other payments owed.
- Evaluating SEC disclosure obligations for executive compensation plans.
- Successfully representing tens of thousands of overseas agricultural workers in litigation brought in United States courts for injuries arising from exposure to pesticides banned in the United States.
- Advising a class of Texas purchasers of workers’ compensation insurance in overcharge litigation, yielding settlements refunding the illegal overcharges.
- Successfully representing a manufacturing company in an appeal from a personal injury claim regarding an employee of a staffing company.
- Performing due diligence background investigations for executives.
- Evaluating SEC disclosure obligations for executive compensation plans.