Can I display work created at my last employer in the portfolio section of my website if I remove their logo, name, contact info

The pieces that you created while employed belong to your employer as works for hire---which means that only your employer has the right to copy, display, distribute or otherwise use them. Thus, your former employer has the right to demand that you stop using these pieces on your web-site, with one big exception. If your use of these materials qualifies as fair use under copyright law (a doctrine informed by the First Amendment), you are permitted to use them notwithstanding your former employer's demands. Courts have been divided over the years as to whether the doctrine of fair use allows a former employee to use work that he created as part of his personal portfolio. Many courts have been reluctant to allow an employer to use copyright law in a manner that prevents a former employee from earning a living. However, the outcome a judicial battle over the fair use doctrine may depend upon many specific facts and circumstances, such as the nature of the works that you created, the extent to which they became closely associated with your employer's business in the minds of consumers and the public, the extent to which your use of the works that you created in your portfolio might impair their market value, and whether or not you are using them for purposes of competing with your former employer for its customers and clients. If you are setting up a business that directly competes with your former employer, it would be unlikely that a court would allow you to successfully assert a fair use defense. But if are not competing with the company for customers or clients, and if your use for purposes of your portfolio would not significantly impair the value of the pieces you created for your former employer, it is reasonably likely that you could successfully assert a fair use defense to a claim of copyright infringement. I must take issue with my esteemed colleague when he suggests that one solution would be to provide links to your work on your former employer's web-site rather than placing copies of your work on your web-site or in your port-folio. I believe this is an example of a situation in which hyperlinking does not necessarily avoid copyright infringement. The assumption that hyperlinking is always appropriate is, I believe, incorrect, as is evident from recent case law involving news aggregation web-sites. While you could reasonably rely on the fair use defense, this would not prevent your former employer from suing for copyright infringement. And if you are sued, the costs of defending the suit could be substantial (tens of thousands of dollars). Even if you win, the costs could be financially disastrous. Thus, a better solution would be to retain experienced intellectual property counsel to negotiate a settlement with your former employer. You are not without leverage here. Your counsel could threaten to ask a court to rule on whether you are entitled to a fair use defense, which would cause your former employer to expend money on attorneys fees. Further, your former employer may not want to have its reputation tarnished by the allegation in a public forum that it refused to allow you to display work that you made during a twelve year career in an effort to stop you from pursuing your career objectives. You should retain legal counsel, and chances are that your counsel will be able to negotiate a fair and equitable solution.