Jonathan A. Willens LLC is one of the leading firms in New York in defending the rights of securities professionals to use their software, trading strategies and other intellectual property. In the securities field and other industries, employers are aggressively -- and sometimes excessively -- seeking to restrain their highly trained professionals from moving to other firms or starting their own businesses. Sometimes the employers try to enforce overly broad non-competition agreements. Or they accuse their employees of taking trade secrets or other confidential information to a new employer. These cases are complex and contentious, and few law firms with our experience are willing to defend individuals against large investment banks and hedge funds.
In January 2003, Mr. Willens obtained the first ruling in any New York State court rejecting the doctrine of “inevitable disclosure” in an employment case. This victory allowed the corporate defendant, a fast-growing British company, to employ a high-level executive recently fired by the plaintiff. Marietta Corp. v. Fairhurst & Pacific Direct Ltd. (App. Div. 3d Dept. 2003). Building on that case, Mr. Willens won another important ruling in April 2004 in Renaissance Technologies v. Millennium Partners, a high-stakes battle between two prominent hedge funds. Representing two physicists who left Renaissance to start their own statistical arbitrage fund at Millennium, Mr. Willens defeated plaintiff's effort to prevent the physicists from trading with their new software. The court again rejected the “inevitable disclosure” doctrine. In the absence of any evidence of misconduct, it is now clear that New York law will not prohibit former employees from working for competitors simply because they may “inevitably” disclose confidential information.
As the Renaissance case continues, Mr. Willens has worked with leading academic experts in statistical arbitrage and quantitative finance. He is familiar with software design issues and a variety of investment strategies. For example, Mr. Willens represents Max Hilton and Quantmetriks Research Ltd. in a suit brought by Ziff Brothers Investments, another large New York hedge fund, concerning the ownership of an investment model based on industry-specific government data.
