Ethical boundaries when leaving a firm for competition

Ethics Memo

Before making a decision I would want to review any disclosure statement I signed before leaving my old firm. Presumably, that disclosure statement would bar me from making any attempt to bring old clients to the new firm, and presumably, it would bar my using confidential information about clients.

However, there are limits to what disclosure statements can cover. It is likely that I don't know anything about this company my new company couldn't find out in other ways. Each company has to position itself in the marketplace, and most companies will try to have something that makes them special and unique, as it increases their competitive edge.

So, while I know these things, they aren't corporate secrets. Telling my new employer what I know about my old employer does not seem unethical to me. The real problem is that Jack McDougal may ask me to cross that line. Ethically, I should not do that. However, adopting any kind of smug, "holier-than-thou" attitude will alienate him and make me look like I am not a team player. So, I should do what politicians do: answer the question I wish he had asked instead of the one he did ask. As long as I provide accurate information and make it clear that I am a team player with no lingering loyalties to my old company, I should be able to assist them in their recruiting efforts without doing anything unethical.