HWL Ebsworth successfully defended an urgent application for interlocutory relief in Blue Rock Australia Pty Ltd v Kaushik where the Federal Court dismissed Blue Rock Australia’s application to restrain a former employee accountant from allegedly breaching her contractual obligations relating to non-solicitation of clients of accounting firm, Blue Rock.
HWL Ebsworth’s client, Ms Sangeeta Kaushik, resigned from her position at Blue Rock to take up a position at a competitor accounting firm. Following Ms Kaushik’s resignation, the HWL Ebsworth team declined, on Ms Kaushik’s behalf, a request from Blue Rock that she sign a written undertaking to ‘re-commit’ to her post-employment obligations to Blue Rock. As a result, Blue Rock applied to the Federal Court for urgent injunctive relief.
The application was dismissed by Justice Snaden after finding that there was no evidence that Ms Kaushik had approached or intended to approach any former clients of Blue Rock. The decision of Snaden J emphasised that for an employer to obtain interlocutory relief restraining the actions of a former employee, there must be evidence that a breach of the employee’s obligations is threatened or likely, rather than a mere possibility.
The HWL Ebsworth team was led by Tony Lawrence (Partner) and Jonathan Nguyen (Special Counsel) in our Workplace Relations and Safety team. The team was supported by Matilda Loton (Graduate), Alexandra Webb (Graduate) and Shayna Sedeora (Graduate). The team was very pleased that it obtained a successful outcome for their client.
Note to Editors:
HWL Ebsworth is the largest legal partnership in Australia according to the most recent partnership surveys published by the Australian Financial Review.
The firm comprises 1,702, staff including 275 Partners, 1042 other legal staff and 385 support staff across offices in nine locations – Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra, Darwin, Melbourne, Hobart, Norwest (North West Sydney), Perth and Sydney.
HWL Ebsworth is an independent, nationally integrated, full service commercial law firm, providing tailored and commercially oriented legal services.
HWL Ebsworth operates a different business model to the other leading national law practices, and this allows us to offer unrivalled value for money without compromising quality and service. Our low ratio of solicitors to partners ensures that our clients receive optimal access to partner resources for all matters.
For further information, please contact:
Russell Mailler, Chief Executive Partner (03) 8644 3569 or rmailler@hwle.com.au
Angelique Kear, Head of Marketing (02) 9334 8541 or akear@hwle.com.au