Trade secrets at a law firm: what Law 1/2019 protects and what measures it requires
The knowledge a firm accumulates, such as its templates, methodology or commercial information, can be protected as a trade secret. But Law 1/2019 protects it only if the firm takes reasonable measures to keep it secret, and it does not allow restricting professionals' mobility.
Even if it makes no patentable products, a firm has valuable intangible assets: its brief templates, its knowledge bases, its working methodology or its market information. Law 1/2019 of 20 February on Trade Secrets, published in BOE no. 45 of 21 February 2019, offers a route to protect them. But it demands prior effort from the firm.
This guide does not deal with specific cases of lawyers leaving: it focuses on what the law says and how it applies to a firm's organisation.
What a trade secret is
Article 1.1 of the law protects any information or knowledge, of a technological, scientific, industrial, commercial, organisational or financial nature, that meets three conditions:
| Condition | What it requires |
|---|---|
| a) Secret | Not generally known nor readily accessible to persons in the circles that normally use it |
| b) Value | Having commercial value, real or potential, precisely because it is secret |
| c) Reasonable measures | That its holder has taken reasonable measures to keep it secret |
The third condition is the key for a firm. If information circulates without control, there is no secret to protect.
What the law does not allow
Article 1.3 sets an important limit: protection cannot restrict employees' mobility nor limit the use of experience and skills honestly acquired during the normal course of their career.
For a firm, that means that what a lawyer has learned by working, their judgement and experience, is not the firm's trade secret. What can be protected is specific information meeting the three conditions of Article 1.1. The ethical and employment rules on lawyers leaving, which are a separate matter, we review in the guide to lateral moves and professional ethics.
When a secret is violated
Under Article 3, violation can occur through:
- Unlawful acquisition, such as unauthorised access to, appropriation or copying of documents containing the secret, or any conduct contrary to honest commercial practices.
- Unlawful use or disclosure, by someone who obtained the secret unlawfully or who breaches a confidentiality agreement.
Article 2.1, by contrast, considers lawful, among others, independent discovery or creation.
The actions
| Aspect | According to the law |
|---|---|
| Civil actions (Art. 9.1) | Declaration of the violation, cessation or prohibition, seizure and withdrawal of materials, damages if there is intent or fault, and publication of the judgment, among others |
| Damages (Art. 10.1) | All relevant factors are taken into account, such as losses, lost profit and the infringer's unjust enrichment, or alternatively a lump sum |
| Limitation (Art. 11) | Three years from when the entitled party learned of the person who committed the violation |
Reasonable measures at a firm
The law requires reasonable measures. One way to organise them at a firm is this:
- Identify what information has value because it is secret: own templates, knowledge bases, methodologies, commercial information.
- Restrict access according to each person's role.
- Sign confidentiality agreements with lawyers, staff and collaborators, since breaching them is a form of violation under Article 3.
- Mark documents as confidential and control copies.
- Manage departures: recover devices and revoke access, without trying to limit the professional's experience.
Relation to other obligations
The confidentiality of the firm's information coexists with professional secrecy, which protects client information and has its own regime, as we recalled in the editorial on professional secrecy and client documents. And access control measures coincide with those data protection requires, which we review in the guide to data protection for the self-employed lawyer.
More analysis in Big law firms and lateral moves.
Fuentes
- Ley 1/2019, de 20 de febrero, de Secretos Empresariales (BOE-A-2019-2364). Accessed 18 October 2026.
The specific data in this article come from the official sources cited.
