Category Archives: Legal

Preventing Trade Secret Theft (in 20 Years)

Posted on December 11, 2012 by Joe Ahmad

Trade secret theft becomes a bigger concern for major companies with every passing day. Particularly when companies are doing business overseas—where intellectual property protections may not be as well-enforced—keeping trade secrets secret has become, to put it lightly, a challenge.

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Avoiding IP Theft On The Job

Posted on October 18, 2012 by Joe Ahmad

Most executives would never dream of stealing from their employers, but many put themselves at risk of being accused of that very thing in the course of their workday. Most such actions—such as emailing files to their personal email address … Continue reading →

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PA Trade Secret Case Highlights Perils of Job Changes

Posted on October 4, 2012 by Joe Ahmad

A trade secret lawsuit recently filed in federal court in Pennsylvania highlights the need for caution when executives change employers. ACE American Insurance Company sued OneBeacon U.S. Holdings, Inc., claiming that OneBeacon poached several of its workers and stole ACE’s … Continue reading →

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Office Romances Doubly Dangerous for CEOs

Posted on June 11, 2012 by Joe Ahmad

It seems we can’t go for more than a few months without a CEO’s romantic entanglements getting him into trouble. The latest victim, if you can call him that, is former Stryker Corp. CEO Stephen P. MacMillan, who was recently … Continue reading →

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Résumé Fudging Easy to Catch, Hard to Undo

Posted on May 18, 2012 by Bria Burk

In today’s economic environment, investors are looking for safety, stability and, ideally, profitability. The crash of 2008, and news of losses such as the recent $2 billion snafu at JPMorgan Chase & Co., has shareholders jittery and skeptical. So it’s … Continue reading →

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Dodging Land Mines During a Job Search

Posted on February 23, 2012 by Joe Ahmad

Job changes are almost as inevitable these days as death and taxes, but lawsuits over them don’t have to be. There are all kinds of considerations an executive needs to keep in mind when looking for a job, depending on … Continue reading →

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Is Your Pension Going to Be What You Think It’s Going to Be?

Posted on February 10, 2012 by Joe Ahmad

American Airlines’ request to have the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corp. bail out its $9 billion in unfunded pension obligations should have executives everywhere taking a hard look at their employer-funded retirement plans. Particularly for executives who work in troubled industries, … Continue reading →

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Employee Anti-Poaching Agreements Thwart the Free Market

Posted on January 27, 2012 by Joe Ahmad

An interesting case is playing out as we speak in Silicon Valley, where a group of high-tech employees has sued Google, Apple, Pixar, Lucasfilm, Adobe, Intel, and Intuit over an alleged “gentlemen’s agreement” not to recruit each other’s employees. In In … Continue reading →

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What to do when your successful business unit is sold

Posted on January 20, 2012 by Joe Ahmad

Success is sometimes rewarded in strange ways, such as when a company sells off a highly profitable business unit in order to raise cash (as Nestle did when it bought Cadbury and as Barnes & Noble is considering doing with … Continue reading →

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Negotiating a severance package

Posted on January 3, 2012 by Joe Ahmad

Litigation avoidance is very high on most companies’ priority lists, and when a company is considering letting an executive go, one of their biggest concerns is how to keep their soon-to-be-former executive from hiring someone like me to file a … Continue reading →

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