Am I selling them a call option on my time?

March 18, 2009 6:46 PM

I used to work for one of those ratings agency that are oh-so-topical these days. Now I'm getting calls from lawyers and I've got some questions.

I ran The Professional Services division for one of the ratings agencies. We took our firm's IP and commercialised it, letting banks and other financial entities rate obligors and structured products much like we would. This was attractive to various entities as regulator validation / signoff on these models was much, much faster than if the models were constructed from scratch. Clearly this was a client facing role, and we'd spend lots of times onsite and looking at their obligor data to adapt our models to their purposes. I got to know both perspectives (i.e., ratings agency and bank) very, very well.

I left the firm in 2006, but somehow a couple of US based attorneys have tracked me down, and have started calling. They clearly are fishing about for information on structures, asking specific questions regarding how firms changed our IP to suit their own purposes.

I don't live in The United States don't get back there much, and ain't really planning to visit either. If I tell them what I do know, freely answer their questions, can I get subpoenaed? Bonus question: rumours in our social circle is they will offer up some cash for answers. While I haven't been offered yet, if I accept consulting fees how does this change the possibility of a subpoena down the road? I have access to and experience with offshore facilities that will allow me to receive payments covertly, but even if the cash can't be tracked back to me does this increase the leverage of a subpoena as they would clearly know whom the payments were intended for?

I got a whole life outside The United States, am pretty darn busy and ain't got no time for unplanned and perhaps protracted visit to America.

posted by anonymous to law & government (8 comments total)

Get a lawyer.
posted by trotter at 6:49 PM on March 18

I'm an employment attorney. I'd advise lawyering up now for a whole host of reasons that I don't want to go into detail here so that I will not be offering you legal advice.
posted by Ironmouth at 7:00 PM on March 18

2nding lawyer. Get a free consultation if possible and ask them what you've asked us.
posted by zippy at 7:00 PM on March 18

I'd advise lawyering up now for a whole host of reasons that I don't want to go into detail here so that I will not be offering you legal advice.

Fair enough, but maybe you could advise on how to go about "lawyering up" given the facts presented here?

Does the OP need a white collar criminal defense lawyer? Another type? How would he/she select one? Just ring up Skadden, Arps?
posted by MLIS at 7:27 PM on March 18

I'm not a lawyer, but I'm not sure why you wouldn't just want to say something along the lines of "I'm not at liberty to say" until someone tries to subpoena you. AFAIK you're not required to tell them anything and in fact giving them information just makes you more liable to getting pulled into a mess you don't want to be involved in.
posted by bitdamaged at 7:45 PM on March 18

The best way to get a lawyer is to ask another one. I'm not sure what jurisdiction the OP is in. If there is an American firm in the OP's country he or she might want to contact them. Generally you would want a civil attorney.

You are definitely not required to answer questions and you may be positively prohibited from doing so by an employment agreement. Indeed the business processes in question might be patented.
posted by Ironmouth at 8:04 PM on March 18

bitdamaged: I can see two possible reasons-- first, the OP thinks there might be payment for answers. Second, perhaps the OP feels some moral responsibility to present the truth.

Either way though, yes, lawyer before you talk, especially if you might have signed a contract that you won't reveal such details.
posted by nat at 10:35 PM on March 18

I would say nothing without a lawyer's advice. Start with an employement lawyer - at a bare minimum, you will want someone to review your employment contract from the time and check that you aren't saying anything that will give your previous employer recourse.
posted by rodgerd at 11:16 PM on March 18