Self Employed - Non-compete query

zing_2

I am currently self employed (UK) as an Architectural Technician and have been in an informal partnership with a former employers Architectural Practice for the last 18 months. During this time I have generated and produced the majority of work with various clients with which I have always had direct contact and passed the invoicing through the Architectural practice with the end goal of joining the practice as a director. I recently advised my former employer of my intention to step back from this informal partnership and take what i view as my clients with me. As I generate the majority of the cashflow within his practice, he is naturally opposed to this and has stated that I cannot simply take away what he views as 'his' clients, despite him having no dealings with them at all during this time other than invoicing for work that I have carried out. The informal arrangement did not involve any formal or informal contracts or agreements.
On this basis, I do not believe that he has a legitimate claim to these clients or to restrict my continuing to work with them directly. Can anyone advise whether I am correct.

agrinnall

If you have no contractual agreement that prevents you continuing to deal with existing clients in another setting then I believe you are correct that your former employer can do nothing about it. It's quite a bog oversight on their part not to have had a formal agreement with you, but without it I can't see how they could enforce any restriction on your ability to trade.

heretolearn_2

1) They are not your clients. They are the firm's clients. I can't imagine what sort of argument/bad feeling provoked you into telling them you were going to leave and try to take half their clients with you, but what reaction did you honestly expect? You wanted to upset them, maybe they deserved it, who knows, but of course they were not going to just say 'ok, here you go, good luck'.

2) Having said that, while you need to understand these are the firm's clients and not yours, there is nothing to stop those clients choosing to work with you directly in future. Most firms would have a non-poach contract in place that you cannot work with their clients after leaving for, say 6 months, but if that isn't in place then you are free to approach them and try to win the business over. Of course, any contract they have with your employer will still be in effect, if they've signed up for a year's service for example, they can't just slip out of that.

3) Again, having understood that there is nothing to stop you trying to re-win their business for yourself, you need to be careful about how you do this. Everything you have done on the clients and all information about them belongs to your employer. You cannot take client contact lists/copies of work etc with you.

I would also not be too cocky in expecting all the new clients you brought in to move with you - neither of you actually 'owns' them - they are currently clients of your employer, but they can go anywhere they want. If they get wind of disputes and arguments and trouble they may just wish to get out of it altogether and go somewhere new.

I have known a large company set up by the salespeople basically pinching their previous employers clients, but those clients were also personally fed up with the original firm.

We had someone leave us and try to set up in opposition and we know that they had meetings with a lot of our clients. We lost one. And that's only because they offered them a ridiculously low fee.

InsideInsurance

Who did the clients have a contract with? It sounds like they were contracted to you but paid the practice?

Ultimately if you have no contract in place between you and the practice there is little they can do as long as you aren't trying to pass off

Notmyrealname

The simple reply to the other person is "show me in writing where it says I can't."

zing_2

Thanks for all the responses. Much apprecated.