Counting down the days to a less restrictive covenant

Writing in this week’s NLJ Pennington Manches partners, Tom Walker and Richard Marsall, cite a series of cases over the past year which have given useful guidance on the permissible length of covenants seeking to restrict an ex-employee’s client dealings.

“Lengthy covenants that might be acceptable for senior staff are not necessarily acceptable for more junior ones,” they say.

“Where a company’s business is one based on frequent and open trades, particularly online, as opposed to customer loyalty, thought should be given to implementing very short periods of restriction, perhaps some only three to four months.

"There is an argument that as this faster paced world of social media undercuts personal relationships, and in certain businesses replaces human interaction with virtual interaction, standard six month restrictions have run their course.”