How To Enforce An NDA When A Former Co-Founder Or Contractor Leaks Confidential Information

Summary for Founders

• Treat an NDA breach as an incident and act fast to stop further disclosure  of confidential information.
• Contact Crowley Law LLC before you confront the other party or send messages that shape the record.
• Preserve evidence that holds up in court, including logs, screenshots, timestamps and chain of custody.
• Work with counsel to seek injunctive relief to stop disclosure first, then pursue monetary damages after containment.

Enforce NDA Rights Quickly to Stop Further Disclosure

You are here because a nondisclosure agreement (“NDA”) breach  has happened. It may involve a former co-founder, employee or contractor using or sharing confidential information after the relationship ended and trust no longer applies.

This guide explains how NDA enforcement works in practice, what you must prove and how to act quickly so you can stop further disclosure and place your business in the best position to pursue remedies.

NDA Breach After a Founder Split or Contractor Exit

An NDA breach after a founder split or contractor exit can turn confidential information into a business emergency. A former co-founder, employee or contractor may still have access to:

• Confidential data
• Customer data
• Client lists
• Source code

You may not know whether anyone is disclosing confidential information or whether trade secrets and intellectual property (“IP”) are already drifting toward the public domain.

This is where NDA enforcement stops being theoretical. To enforce an NDA, you need to move quickly and tighten control  before more disclosure occurs.

What follows is a founder-ready sequence to stop disclosure, protect sensitive information and position your existing NDA to hold up in court if legal action becomes necessary.

How To Enforce NDA: A Founder-Ready NDA Enforcement Checklist

If someone is disclosing confidential information, treat it as an operational incident. Here is a step by step process to follow:

Step 1: Call Crowley Law LLC first

Before you confront the other party or send messages that create a record, call us. We can assess the NDA breach, protect your position and guide the next steps.

We help our clients to:

• Assess whether the leaked material constitutes confidential information or trade secrets
• Identify the strongest clauses to rely on under the NDA
• Coordinate a response that preserves evidence and supports court relief if needed

Step 2: Contain the Leak Now

While we coordinate the legal strategy, shut down access paths so no more confidential information or sensitive data leaves your systems.

• Disable accounts for the former co-founder, contractor or employee
• Rotate shared passwords and application programming interface (“API”) credentials
• Revoke device access and third-party app permissions
• Tighten cloud sharing settings
• Check email forwarding rules and collaboration tool exports
• Turn on multi-factor authentication and confirm access logging

Step 3: Preserve Evidence That Can Hold Up in Court

We help our clients preserve evidence in a format that will hold up in court and support requests for a court order.

Specifically, we:

• Identify what was taken or exposed and why it matters
• Document where it lived, who had access and its business value
• Capture proof of disclosure: screenshots, links, messages and postings
• Pull access logs, repository history and timestamps
• Store evidence securely and protect chain of custody
• Build a timeline linking disclosure to harm

Step 4: Run an NDA Enforceability Check Before You Escalate

Before threatening legal action, we test whether the NDA is likely to be treated as enforceable or whether there is risk it is deemed unenforceable or rendered unenforceable.

• Confirm the NDA covers the specific material, not just general language that does not include the specific material at risk
• Identify the exact restriction: use, disclosure or both
• Cross-check employment agreements and internal confidentiality policies
• Pressure-test defenses: public domain, prior knowledge, independent development
• Flag issues if the NDA is overly broad or lacks reasonable scope
• Distinguish trade secrets from general knowledge

Step 5: Send a Demand Letter That Forces a Clean Response

We draft and send a demand letter that invokes the NDA’s key provisions and forces the other side into clear written positions.

• Cite the executed NDA and quote the key provisions
• Demand immediate stop of use and disclosure on a short deadline
• Require return or deletion  of all copies, exports and backups
• Require written certification of compliance
• Demand disclosure of distribution paths  and recipients

Step 6: If the Breach Continues, Pursue a Court Order

If the breach keeps spreading, we pursue injunctive relief to stop disclosure and protect your competitive edge.

We: 

• Seek a temporary restraining order or preliminary injunction
• Present the NDA, logs, screenshots and timeline as evidence
• Support requests based on irreparable harm and ongoing disclosure
• Request deletion, forensic certification and preservation orders  where appropriate

Step 7: Choose the Right Remedy: Injunction First, Monetary Damages After

Sequence matters. We help our clients prioritize remedies that stop harm first, then pursue recovery.

• Injunction / specific performance: Stop disclosure now.
• Monetary damages: Pursue measurable losses after containment.

Use this table to choose a remedy in the right order:

How Confidential Information Gets Disclosed in Startups

Why You Need Crowley Law LLC for NDA Enforcement

When confidential information starts leaking, the goal is to stop disclosure, preserve evidence and take action in a way that holds up in court.

Why Founders Bring In a Legal Counselor

• NDA issues often overlap with employment agreements and other confidentiality obligations and the documents must work together.
• Trade secret status can be undermined by missteps, especially when access controls and documentation are inconsistent.
• Timing drives enforceability and delays can weaken a request for emergency injunctive relief by making harm look less than irreparable.
• Evidence needs to be preserved correctly, including logs, screenshots and chain of custody or the record becomes easy to attack.
• Scope matters and overly broad demands can invite arguments that the NDA is unreasonable or unenforceable.
• Client data and proprietary client information raise the stakes, which can require immediate escalation and tighter containment.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.