The art, science of avoiding costly litigation

Sam, your salesmen, quits.  A competitor hires him.  Your small business has no non-compete or confidentiality agreements, but you reminded employees regularly that you assembled client lists through years of work that contain notes about clients and best approaches to each.

You want to avoid a trial, but what should you do?

First, we’ll send a letter to Sam, describing the facts that support your claim that the list is a trade secret – how you compiled it, your reasonable secrecy measures, your “confidential” label, and access limitations – and why you think he’s using it. We’ll ask him to stop and…