Ord Minnett loses clients amid legal dispute

Wealth management firm Ord Minnett has lost more than a dozen clients since sacking Perth-based senior adviser Faye Longmuir, a Federal Court judge found.

Ord Minnett launched legal action in the Federal Court of Australia against Ms Longmuir, who was a senior wealth adviser at the firm’s Perth office from early 2020 to September this year.

It claimed Ms Longmuir had breached her contract of employment, which restricted her from taking Ord Minnett clients when she left the firm.

Earlier this month, Ms Longmuir joined the Canaccord Genuity Wealth Management team in Perth.

Federal Court Judge Darren Jackson this week published his reasons to grant an interim injunction, temporarily banning Ms Longmuir from persuading her former clients to leave Ord Minnett.

In his judgment, Justice Jackson said 17 out of the 90 or so clients Ms Longmuir worked with during her time at Ord Minnett had taken their business elsewhere.

Justice Jackson said Ms Longmuir has not suggested that restraining her from soliciting her former Ord Minnett clients would prejudice her.

“She has employment at Canaccord and presumably can earn a satisfactory income without the business of such Ord Minnett clients as she might otherwise have attracted to follow her to Canaccord, if she were not restricted from soliciting their business,” he said in his judgment.

“In contrast, Ord Minnett did adduce evidence indicating that it was suffering loss as a result of what it says are breaches of Ms Longmuir's non-solicitation obligations. 

“It estimates that seventeen clients formerly served by her have left since her departure. 

“Even if only a part of those client departures are attributable to the alleged breaches, they still could result in substantial losses of fee revenue over time.”

Justice Jackson’s orders include suppressing some parts of Ord Minnett private wealth head Frank Hegerty’s affidavit, although the judgment has unveiled some details about the dispute.

According to the judgment, Ms Longmuir sent a spreadsheet with 85 clients’ details to her personal email address about a week before her sacking.

Ord Minnett terminated Ms Longmuir’s employment on September 19 after a series of disciplinary meetings on the alleged confidentiality breach with the spreadsheet, the judgment said.

Mr Hegerty claimed Ms Longmuir’s clients contacted Ord Minnett to end their business with the firm before and after her departure had been publicly announced.

Several clients’ correspondence to Ord Minnett over their dissatisfaction with Ms Longmuir’s departure have also been published in the court judgment.

“I cannot trust a firm that would treat its staff in the manner in which Ords have treated Faye,” a client said.

“It sounds to me like the managers at Ords are all a joke. I want you to switch off my fees and for them to be cancelled today.”

Another client, according to the judgment, called Ord Minnett to transfer her account to Canaccord to continue her service with Ms Longmuir.

The company was informed through updates on her Microsoft Outlook calendar with Ord Minnett after her termination that Ms Longmuir had scheduled meetings with her former clients, according to the judgment.

Justice Jackson has barred Ms Longmuir from encouraging or persuading any Ord Minnett client, that she dealt with in her last year of employment, to stop or reduce their business with the firm until December 19.