Independence
The protocol permits a specific short list and ends the litigation. Its limits are discovered late, and usually by someone who assumed it covered more.
An agreement among participating firms setting out what a departing advisor may take: client name, address, phone number, email, and account title, for clients the advisor served at that firm. Nothing else. In exchange, the firms agree not to sue over the departure.
It was designed to end an expensive cycle of litigation, and for the most part it did.
It only binds participants. If either the firm you are leaving or the firm you are joining is not a participant, it does not apply to your move. Membership changes; several large firms have left and some have returned.
The list is exactly what it says. Account numbers, statements, performance history, notes, and anything else about a client are not covered. Taking them is not a protocol question; it is a different and more serious one.
It says nothing about how you leave. Soliciting before you resign, using firm resources to prepare, or copying material on the way out sits outside the protocol entirely, and firms pursue it.
It does not override everything you signed. Depending on the arrangement and the jurisdiction, other obligations may survive.
The protocol contemplates a move between participating firms. Establishing your own firm raises a question about whether and how it applies, and the answer depends on facts specific to your situation.
Read what you signed, all of it, before you talk to anybody. Do not prepare on the firm's systems. Do not contact clients before you have resigned. Take the permitted list and nothing more, and be able to demonstrate that.
This is one of the few areas in a transition where the cost of getting it wrong is measured in litigation rather than inconvenience. Employment counsel who does this work regularly is not an optional expense, and one conversation before you act is worth considerably more than several afterwards.
Questions this did not answer? Ask them directly — that is what the twenty minutes is for.
Schedule a call to see for yourself