Broker shuffle continues: C&W lands 2 CB Richard Ellis brokers.

Another week, another staffing coup--this time costing CB Richard Ellis two top sales brokers, Scott Latham and Jon Caplan. The sales team jumped ship to Cushman & Wakefield only days after CBRE pulled a similar stunt by hiring two Cushman brokers, Darcy Stacom and Bill Shanahan. What began last month when Mary Ann Tighe joined CBRE has suddenly become a pitched battle to poach rival talent.

Latham and Caplan were both senior vice presidents at GB Richard Ellis. Incidentally, Latham worked for Cushman & Wakefield before signing on with CBRE seven years ago.

"This certainly wasn't unexpected," said Mary Ann Tighe, head of CBRE's New York office.

Asked if she expects to bring on board any other high-level brokers this summer, Tighe said that there are "a few folks coming on soon."

"Though not on the level of Darcy (Stacom) and Bill (Shanahan)," she added.

Cushman & Wakefield boasted of their new hires in a press release issued last week.

"Our ability to pick up such professionals bodes very well for our firm and clients as we continue to grow this impressive lineup of talent," said Cushman & Wakefield's president of US operations Bruce Mosler via press release.

Latham and Caplan will head Cushman & Wakefield's Metropolitan Financial Services Group. Prior to joining CBRE, Latham worked for Eastern Consolidated Properties for 4 years. From 1987 to 1991, he worked for Cushman & Wakefield's financial services group.

"Cushman & Wakefield is a magnificent platform. It has strong local property management and leasing business and those two divisions can drive a. lot of business," said Scott Latham, now a senior director at Cushman & Wakefield.

He said in the press release that one reason why he left CBRE had to do with "managing relationships... when it comes to selling the building."

"Those are things that do not exist at CBRE in New York," said Latham.

Both Latham and Caplan will work for Timothy Welch, the executive managing director of the Financial Services Group.

Lawrence Fiedler, a professor at New York University's Real Estate Institute, called the latest staffing shift "a turf war" in the sense that talent is at stake.

"Cushman &_Wakefield is getting back at CB Richard Ellis. So they tapped two of their brokers," said Fiedler.

With all of the senior-level brokers jumping ship right now, Fiedler sees it as inevitable that real estate firms will be scrutinizing the contracts of incoming brokers--and maybe even adding more in the way of "restrictive clauses".

"The real question--and this can only be answered on a case by case basis- is who owns the relationship with the client? The broker or the firm?" he said.

Many employment contracts make it clear that "trade secrets" cannot be shared with rival firms if a broker joins a competitor, according to Fiedler.

All of this masthead shifting is liable to add new dimensions to negotiating employment contracts. Despite the prevalence of high-level defections recently, the risk has always been there. One attorney who represents such defectors said that non-compete clauses are nothing new.

"What varies is the vigor with which firms will go after an ex-employee who takes up with a competitor immediately after quitting," said Ken Taber of law firm Salans.

There have been cases where an exemployee has been forced to take a "court appointed, forced vacation" before assuming a new position with a rival firm, added Taber. In such a case, an injunction would be issued by the disgruntled firm.

"If proprietary information is the issue, some firms will pursue this," he said.