A landmark High Court ruling has redrawn the lines between lawful recruitment and unlawful poaching across the insurance, financial services and professional services sectors, according to employment and partnership law specialist Fox and Partners.

Speaking at a London International Dispute Week seminar this week, the firm described the judgment in Guy Carpenter & Company Ltd v Willis Re (UK) Ltd [2026] EWHC 361 (KB) as one of the most significant team-move decisions in recent years.

The case arose from 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 formed part of an unlawful poaching operation and sought to prevent further recruitment through the courts.

Fox and Partners said the ruling confirms that team recruitment can be lawful and provides important guidance on where courts are likely to draw the line between legitimate recruitment activity and unlawful conduct.

Caroline Field, partner at Fox and Partners, said: “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 and 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.”

According to the firm, the judgment confirms that recruiting a team from a competitor can be lawful and that multiple employees resigning at the same time is not, by itself, evidence of unlawful poaching. It also indicates that employers challenging team moves must show that any alleged wrongdoing influenced employees' decisions to leave.

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 highlighted 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 sufficient to amount to a breach of duty.

However, Fox and Partners said employers bringing team-move claims will increasingly need to prove that any wrongdoing caused real harm and altered the outcome.

The ruling is expected to be closely watched across the insurance and financial services sectors, where strategic team hires are often viewed as a fast route to growth.

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