Recently, Llinks Shenzhen Office secured a victory in representing a leading enterprise in a niche sector in a non-compete dispute against a former executive. The court ruled in accordance with the law that the former executive involved had breached their non-compete obligations, and ordered them to fully refund the substantial non-compete compensation to the client and pay liquidated damages. The victory in this case provides important practical reference value for enterprises to standardize their human resources management and prevent core employees from harming company interests through improper means.

The defendant in this case was a former core executive of the enterprise, who possessed a large amount of the client's trade secrets and business resources. After resigning, the defendant privately set up a company and provided consulting services to multiple competitors in the same industry, severely damaging the client's legitimate rights and interests. Upon accepting the entrustment, the Llinks team swiftly clarified the case jurisdiction and application of law, comprehensively reviewed the case facts, efficiently completed evidence collection and preservation, and precisely formulated a litigation strategy. During the trial, focusing on core disputed issues such as the determination of the non-compete breach and the amount of liquidated damages, the Llinks team presented ample evidence and conducted rigorous legal reasoning. Ultimately, the court fully adopted our legal arguments and supported the client's core litigation requests.

Nowadays, with frequent talent mobility in the industry, disputes arising from the resignation of core employees, such as non-compete breaches and trade secret infringements, continue to occur frequently, having already become high-frequency commercial risks faced by enterprises. Establishing a reasonable and lawful non-compete mechanism is a critical barrier to safeguarding a healthy competitive order in the industry. This case once again confirms the significant value of compliance governance and professional legal services, and fully demonstrates Llinks' solid professional capabilities and rich practical experience in the field of commercial dispute resolution.

Llinks Engagement Team

Alex Huang, Partner

Shawn Qiu, Contractual Partner

Jason Guo, Associate