- Team hires can be “game changers” for insurance, financial services and professional services firms looking to rapidly expand
- Fox & Partners says Guy Carpenter v Willis Re confirms that team recruitment is now more clearly recognised as capable of being lawful
The High Court’s recent ruling in Guy Carpenter v Willis Re is one of the most significant team-move cases in recent years and helps clarify what is and isn’t “unlawful poaching” of staff, says Fox & Partners, the employment and partnership law specialists.
The case centred on Willis Re’s recruitment of 22 employees from rival broker Guy Carpenter as part of its return to the reinsurance market. Guy Carpenter alleged the departures were the result of an unlawful poaching operation and sought to stop further recruitment through the courts.
Employees and directors have a legal duty to their existing employer not to assist a competitor in their recruitment of their colleagues.
Speaking at its London International Dispute Week seminar on June 4, Fox & Partners says the judgment is an important guide for employers and employees about where courts draw the line between lawful recruitment and unlawful conduct.
Caroline Field, Partner, says: “The Court rejected the suggestion that the departures were the result of a broad unlawful poaching operation organised by the departing employees. The Court confirmed that you cannot assume that the employees had breached their duty to their employer simply because a large number of employees were leaving for Willis Re.”
“The judge also found that many of the employees would likely have left anyway. Fox & Partners says that finding is significant because it indicates the focus of the courts, and necessarily employers seeking to challenge a team move, will be to demonstrate that departures would not have happened but for the alleged wrongdoing.”
Practical takeaways – what businesses can and cannot do when recruiting teams from competitors:
• A company can lawfully recruit a team from a competitor
• Multiple employees resigning at the same time is not, by itself, evidence of an unlawful poaching operation
• Senior employees are unlikely to have a broad duty to take proactive steps to stop colleagues leaving, but may have obligations to disclose known recruitment activity/a competitive threat
• Employers must show that any alleged wrongdoing actually influenced employees’ decisions to leave
• Discussions with colleagues about an opportunity with a competitor and the sharing of information about team members with a prospective new employer is likely to create legal risks
Fox & Partners says one of the most important lessons from the case is that, when recruiting members of a team, approaches should be kept as independent as possible. Employees should avoid providing information about colleagues, including details of their pay, performance or suitability for recruitment, and should leave the identification of potential recruits to the recruiting business.
Craig Rajgopaul KC, who acted for Caroline Field on the Willis case, said “This case marked a dramatic change to the making of admissions of wrongdoing by defendants in team move claims, which resulted in a positive outcome for the defendants and is likely to impact on the way in which all future team move claims are fought.”
The judgment also highlights how easily individuals can cross the line. The Court found that a senior employee telling a junior colleague that an opportunity was “interesting” and worth finding out more about was enough to amount to a breach of duty.
However, Fox & Partners says the case also makes clear that identifying a breach is only part of the picture. Employers seeking to challenge a team move will increasingly need to show that the alleged wrongdoing caused real harm and changed the outcome.
*Guy Carpenter & Company Ltd v Willis Re (UK) Ltd [2026] EWHC 361 (KB)