Munger, Tolles & Olson Partner Carolyn Luedtke Discusses Ways to Minimize the Risk of Trade Secret Theft in an Interview with Corporate Counsel
Munger, Tolles & Olson Partner Carolyn Hoecker Luedtke provided insights and advice on how best to safeguard trade secrets during employee layoffs in an interview with Corporate Counsel. A portion of the interview was published in an article titled “Stopping Trade Secret Theft Starts With Building a ‘Culture of Understanding.’”
Among the best practices discussed during the interview, Ms. Luedtke said that companies looking to mitigate trade secret theft should cultivate a “culture of understanding,” which she described as an environment in which employees are acutely aware of the importance of confidentiality.
“One big step is effectuating a culture of understanding about what confidential information is, and taking measures to protect that confidential information,” Ms. Luedtke said. “You could do regular training where people are reminded about the importance of confidential information. You can have firm leaders talk about taking steps to really maintain secrecy of information that makes a company successful.”
When asked how best to safeguard trade secrets during employee offboarding, Ms. Luedtke replied: “Best practices certainly include having a meeting either with human resources, the legal department or that person’s manager,” she said. “If you know an employee is going to a competitor, show them their confidentiality agreement and go through a checklist of places they should think about and whether they might have maintained notes or photos and ask them to delete them.”