Recruiting disputes getting hot

Firms that go head-to-head over recruiting disputes usually avoid bad-mouthing their competitors in public.

That's what made LPL Financial's recent legal response to a lawsuit filed by its rival Ameriprise remarkable. LPL didn't stop at denying Ameriprise's charges of unscrupulous conduct in its recruitment of two advisors.

It launched its own counterattack, accusing Ameriprise of resorting to intimidation. A lawyer representing the two advisors said Ameriprise's real goal was to tell others who might be thinking of leaving to think twice.

It's well known that there is a lot of friction over firm recruiting these days. It remains to be seen if the result will be an escalation of legal action.