Ameriprise Shows Industry How to Win Against Morgan Stanley TROs

Since Morgan Stanley pulled out of protocol the industry has been waiting for this event:

• Big advisor or team leaves Morgan Stanley for a different firm.
• Morgan Stanley files a motion for a TRO.
• TRO denied by the judge.
• Advisors can continue contacting their clients

This month the event we have been waiting for has happened:

• $328MM AUM Morgan Stanley team joins Ameriprise Financial on January 12^th.
• Morgan Stanley files a motion for a TRO.
• On January 24^th, the judge denies Morgan Stanley’s TRO.
• Advisors can continue contacting their clients

The $328 million father and son Morgan Stanley team, G. Roger and Brian Daniel, joined Ameriprise Financial and won the TRO battle against Morgan Stanley. The Daniels and Ameriprise demonstrated to the industry that proper planning and following non-protocol “protocols” will prevent successful TRO filings against the departing advisor.

This is the signal many Morgan Stanley advisors have been waiting for. The Ameriprise / Daniel team shows advisors and firms that non-protocol transitions can be done successfully when they are done right.  Some advisors will want to see more successful transitions repeated a few times before they will be comfortable with leaving Morgan Stanley or UBS. Others already exploring other options will see the roadmap for non-protocol transition and be emboldened to take next steps.

Ameriprise has advisors who plan on joining them, speak with an experienced lawyer about protocol and non-protocol precautions, steps, and what to do and/or not to do. They help the advisor understand these aspects in preparing for the transition, transition day, and the client transition process. Ameriprise has been successfully recruiting out of non-protocol firms for years, so they do have a head start on most of the industry.

We don’t think the TROs granted before demonstrates that Morgan Stanley has the legal upper hand against advisors who play by the rules. The Morgan Stanley non-protocol TRO examples we have seen so far have all had hair on them. The initial handful of advisors who have left Morgan Stanley since November 3^rd have not been true indicators of non-protocol TRO success. Morgan Stanley was successful in obtaining TROs, but in each case, there hasn’t been an advisor and/or joining the firm who has transitioned the way it is supposed to be done.

In these cases, the advisors either didn’t get legal advice or at least didn’t follow it. Most were careless enough that they would have lost a TRO even if Morgan Stanley was still a protocol firm. Some of the example events so far have also had partnership agreement violations.

Thank you, Ameriprise and the Daniel team, for setting the first precedence of a successful recruiting transition and winning against Morgan Stanley’s TRO attempt. We implore other advisors and firms to follow your example.