The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirmed a district court’s decision finding trade secret misappropriation and breach of contract based on a recruiter’s improper use of confidential client information. Counsel Holdings, Incorporated v. Jowers, Case No. 22-50936 (5th Cir. Apr. 1, 2024) (King, Ho, Engelhardt, JJ.) (per curiam).

In April 2006, Evan Jowers was hired by MWK (whose successor is Counsel Holdings) as a legal recruiter. Jowers signed an employment agreement with noncompete and nonsolicitation covenants. During his employment, Jowers relocated to Hong Kong, where he began recruiting for law firms in Asia. Jowers resigned from MWK in December 2006, after which he began working for another recruiting firm in Hong Kong called Legis Ventures.

MWK sued Jowers for trade secret misappropriation and breach of the restrictive covenants in the employment contract. MWK alleged that while Jowers was still employed with MWK, he submitted its candidates for employment through Legis Ventures. After a bench trial, the district court found in favor of MWK on both claims. As to the trade secret claim, the district court concluded that MWK’s customers’ “names, their clients, how much their practices were worth, their language skills, their goals for switching firms, and their law school records” constituted trade secrets. As for the contract claim, the district court found that enforcement of the restrictive covenants was justified because MWK’s client information was a legitimate business interest. Jowers appealed.

The Fifth Circuit affirmed. As to the trade secret claim, the Court explained that Jowers’s employment agreement explicitly required confidentiality and that MWK’s customers requested that Jowers keep their information secret. Despite the restrictions, Jowers divulged MWK’s customer information to others, including a competing recruitment firm, without authorization. The Fifth Circuit agreed with the district court’s determination that Jowers’s actions constituted trade secret misappropriation.

As to the breach of contract claim, Jowers argued that MWK lacked a “legitimate business interest.” The Fifth Circuit found no clear error with the district court’s determination that MWK’s client information was a legitimate business interest that justified enforcement of the restrictive covenant.