Members and their guests received a fascinating and extremely well-informed presentation from Joseph Sutton, solicitor specialising in employment law and principal of his law firm of the same name.

Joseph’s experience is particularly relevant as he has for many years advised participants in the insurance, financial, banking and shipping industry sectors. He advises across the full range of employment law and during his talk gave illustrations of the disputes and types of issue that can arise in the case of team moves, senior hires and boardroom departures, as well as an outline of the legal principles applying.

Members’ attention became fully engaged when Joseph explained that legally the point of departure is that a restrictive covenant in an employment contract is void.　It will only be enforceable if the employer can establish that the covenant protects a legitimate business interest and is reasonable. The protection of client contacts, confidential information and the working stability of a business can be upheld as legitimate interests, but the objective of protecting against competition is not in itself a legitimate interest.

Joseph also explained that restrictions on working in a competitor business are rarely enforceable for longer than three months. The type of situation where it might be possible to justify a 12 month restriction could be the case of a very senior executive who has a full knowledge and overview of his previous firm’s business and operates in a market where renewals are annual.

Joseph finished by making various practical recommendations as to the evidence that might be traceable electronically, for example on the internet, when employees liaise together so as to co-ordinate a move as a team.　It is not known whether any social media accounts were being hastily deleted later that night by honourable members of the Association.

William Sturge

Carter Perry Bailey LLP

AirSP hosted its annual Charity Quiz for 2019 and 10 teams gathered to both compete - at the same time raise funds for this year’s chosen charity, The Hospice in the Weald.

The event was held at The Habit who also provided the Quizmaster (who is always right!!!). The staff and Quizmaster ably contributed to what was a successful evening.

The evening started with an introduction by Glen Goodall, an ambassador from the Hospice who gave details of the Hospice and it activities. This was greatly enhanced with an insight of his own personal experiences, which certainly moved the audience,

The fund- raising commenced with our normal Heads or Tails competition, which raised £295 for the charity and the winner from Lime Street Brokers collected £100.

The event then moved on to the Quiz itself and the rivalry between teams began to show with a strong competitive spirit coming out amongst the teams. The Quizmaster had produced a very interesting set of subjects to test the teams, and luckily there were very few disputes over the answers!!

The Quiz itself was a close run competition, which resulted in a sudden death playoff between the two teams with the highest score - Mrs Bunt (Helodrium) and Quiz Akabusi (Lime Street Brokers). The tie- break question was “interesting” and Quiz Akabusi were the eventual winners.

The Quiz having been completed, the event moved on to the raffle which comprised prizes which had been kindly donated by our supporters. There were a good number of prizes and the winners were well spread amongst the teams. The raffle raised another £295 for the Hospice.

The evening concluded with the prize giving, with Quiz Akabusi collecting the winner’s prize and The Three Tenners (MCD Consultants) collecting the special prize for the team with the lowest score. AirSP are rather hoping that one of our supporters may consider donating a trophy which could be competed for on an annual basis. Any volunteers???

The evening was enjoyed by all who participated and everyone left in a relaxed and good mood - hopefully looking forward to next years’ Quiz.

We are pleased to report that thanks to the support from all participants and supporters, the Quiz raised £1,011.13 for the Hospice.

Charles Catt

Chairman