New York Securities Lawyer Blog
On February 15, 2012, UBS Financial Services, Inc. (“UBS”) sued David Kinnear and his partner Kathleen Bakas, two former UBS financial advisors in Chicago, alleging that they took confidential information, including customer information, to their new employer Wells Fargo Advisers LLC. UBS is requesting that the court issue an injunction against Mr. Kinnear and Ms. Bakas, preventing them from soliciting any customers they advised while at UBS, and preventing their disclosure of any proprietary information. UBS also filed an expedited arbitration hearing against Mr. Kinnear and Ms. Bakas with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc.
UBS alleges that these two financial advisors did not follow the Protocol for Broker Recruiting (“Protocol”). If this is found to be true, this situation could have been avoided. The Protocol, which was drafted in 2004, sets forth what information financial advisors are allowed to take with them when they are switching from one Protocol member firm to another Protocol member firm. Specifically, advisers are allowed to take client names, addresses, phone numbers, e-mail addresses, and account titles. Our firm provides legal advice to brokers in transition in order to help avoid the situation faced by Mr. Kinnear and Ms. Bakas.
For more on this issue see “Register Representatives in Transition Need to Hire Counsel.”