The name partners of the law firm Tully Rinckey have been accused of ethics violations for allegedly adding anti-competitive terms to attorney employment agreements and impeding clients’ ability to follow departing lawyers.
The lawyers, Mathew B. Tully and Gregory T. Rinckey, are accused in a May 25 specification of charges, Reuters reports. Their law firm is based in Albany, New York, and has 11 offices.
The ethics filing is “cutting-edge,” according to the Legal Profession Blog.
In late 2010 and 2011, the lawyers began requiring new hires and existing lawyers in the Washington, D.C., office to sign employment agreements that included “restrictive, anti-competitive provisions,” according to the specification of charges.
According to the allegations, the employment agreements:
• Banned departing lawyers from taking the identity of firm clients and client contact information. Violators were subject to $10,000 in liquidated damages.
• Provided for a three-to-five-year term of employment, with liquidated damages as high as $50,000 for those who left early.
• Banned departing lawyers from trying to entice away law firm employees for 36 months after leaving the firm.
• Banned departing lawyers from entering into any business arrangement or partnership with other firm alumni for 18 months after leaving the firm.
• Required some lawyers who left before their employment term and took clients with them to pay a referral fee of one-third of the fees billed to those clients. Similar...
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