Selwyn Bloch KC

Selwyn has extensive experience in restraint of trade cases in the employment and LLP/ partnership and commercial law context. He has acted in employment disputes of all kinds, including, restrictive covenants, “team moves”, confidential information and wrongful dismissal cases. He advises on and appears in cases involving urgent injunctive relief and speedy trials relating especially to restrictive covenants, garden leave and springboard and confidential information injunctions.

Selwyn is particularly experienced in cases which require close working between barristers instructing solicitors and foreign legal teams. These cases typically involve:

• team moves involving several defendants;
• high value employment disputes which may engage points of legal principle of international and commercial significance and complexity;
• Selwyn leading (or being consulted in conjunction with) prominent barrister colleagues (in employment or related disciplines such as intellectual property and company law) in cases against leading Silks.

Selwyn has a particular interest in arbitration, whether as arbitrator, mediator, or advocate, especially in the LLP/partnership and employment sphere. He acted recently (2019) as sole arbitrator in a restrictive covenant dispute between a top accountancy firm and a departing member. His cases typically involve high value restrictive covenant, wrongful dismissal and bonus disputes. He is also a judicial mediator in the employment tribunal.

Selwyn has extensive experience of partnership cases, whether as Leading Counsel, Arbitrator or draughtsman. He has a particular interest in cases relating to competition between LLP members/partners, especially cases involving restrictive covenants, garden leave and confidential information issues. His experience in this regard involves both acting in partnership and LLP litigation and drafting relevant provisions in partnership and LLP agreements. In particular, he has been instructed to draft and advise on covenants in the largest (and medium-sized) accountancy and solicitors’  practices. Very recently he acted as (sole) arbitrator in a restrictive covenant dispute within a major accountancy firm.

Selwyn has extensive experience and acted in numerous of employment law cases especially in the business protectionarea. He has a special interest in cases which involve an international law orconflict of lawselement.

• Petter v EMC (2016) (CA) in which he acted for the defendant which obtained permission to appeal the Supreme Court to challenge existing Court of Appeal authority granting anti-suit injunctions preventing restrictive covenant proceedings continuing in the US;
• McNeill v Alliant Insurance Holdings (2016) in which he was instructed to resist an attempt to extend the principles in the Petter case to prevent the exercise by the US courts of jurisdiction pursuant to exclusive jurisdiction clauses agreed by the parties in favour of US courts;
• Duarte v Black & Decker [2007] EWCH 2720 [2008] 1 All ER (Comm) 401 – in he acted for the employee who struck down covenants under Maryland law, which were alternatively held to be repugnant to English public policy

Selwyn has extensive experience and has acted in numerous cases involving issues of confidential information, whether in an employment, commercial or partnership context. These cases typically involve:

• secret technical or business information;
• involve interim injunctive proceedings or speedy trial;
• acting together with an employment or IP junior or silk.

Selwyn’s experience includes, in particular, disputes relating to confidential information, restrictive covenants in commercial agreements, including partnership agreements, confidential information, economic torts, disputes relating to directors, agents/ consultants, and breach of contract and sports related disputes. Selwyn has been engaged to advise in some of the most high profile/high value restrictive covenant/confidential information cases. He is often engaged to consider these and other issues in the context of solicitors’ and accountants’ partnerships.