In-house counsel should keep their eyes peeled for other market players’ noncompetition agreements. Understanding how noncompetes work can bolster the company’s efforts to recruit the skilled, experienced employees that other companies in the industry can’t retain. A shrewd legal department develops a company’s reputation for respecting competitors’ legitimate noncompetes while aggressively fending off attempts to overreach.
Noncompete agreements come in a million flavors. Some have global restrictions that last for years. Others are narrow and short. Some nonsolicitation agreements only protect a competitor’s existing client base, leaving the rest of the market wide open. There’s no telling what a candidate’s employment agreement says until in-house counsel reads it.
