Manchester firm Donns Solicitors is seeking damages and an injunction against a former partner after she allegedly solicited for business from clients before leaving the firm.
Former personal injury partner Lesley Casey allegedly sent letters to clients on Donns’ headed notepaper together with the brochure for her new firm, Alexander Harris, on 25 April this year.
She is now being sued personally by Donns senior partner Raymond Donn, who is understood to hold all the equity in the seven-partner firm.
Casey has already joined the partnership at Alexander Harris, but Donn is pursuing the injunction to try to stop her working for anyone apart from his firm until 25 October this year. Casey is vigorously defending the claim.
Donn’s claim form asks the court to force Casey to return all copies of the letter she sent to his firm’s clients, as well as all of the documents she has containing information confidential to Donns.
It also seeks “any computers or computer disks, mobile telephone SIM cards and/or any other electronic storage mediums in her possession, power or control” that contain any confidential information owned by Donns.
Casey is also facing a court order to release an account of all profits she may have made from acting for any of the clients she wrote to in April.
Alexander Harris managing partner Ann Alexander said that the firm was aware of the proceedings, but that it would be inappropriate to comment.
Donn and his adviser Halliwell Landau declined to comment on the case.