Restraint of trade – Effective or not?

Restraint of trade clauses are one of my favourite bugbears. Commonly found in employment agreements. I review a few of these both for employers and employees and most (if not all) would be in part or in full, void, and only seem to exist to scare (ex) employees into not working for the opposition. Leaving […]

Confidentiality and Employment – what can I protect?

Introduction It is not uncommon to find confidentiality clauses in employment agreements that aim to protect the enterprise from misuse or theft of Confidential Information including Trade Secrets. The question is how effective these are. What is Confidential Information in Australian Law? Confidential Information (‘CI’) is largely a creature of contract or equity. We do […]

Liquidated Damages or a Penalty?

A trap that contract drafters often fall into is writing a clause that instead of being liquidated damages, crosses the line into a penalty. In summary the difference is: Liquidated damages: If the amount fixed by the parties is a ‘genuine estimate (or pre-estimate as is commonly written) of the loss by a future breach […]

I have a right to privacy? Right?

I have a right to privacy here? Right? The short answer is no. There is no implied right to privacy in Australia. I confess to a vested interest. As a (very) amateur photographer I have in the past been asked by other photographers what the privacy situation is in Victoria. Usually when they have been […]