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Since starting my own law firm more than seven years ago, I have done one type of work more than any other: Defend poor people against bogus, abusive, illegal non-compete agreements. In all fairness, I have also done lots of work at the other end of the spectrum. I have defended C-Level executives (including some … Continue reading
Proving once again that corporate greed knows no limits, real estate firm Cushman Wakefield recently sued a former janitor, Sonia Mercado, for violating a non-compete agreement. The Washington Post broke the story. Immediately thereafter, following public outcry and a rash of negative publicity, Cushman caved and agreed to drop the lawsuit. Although that is a … Continue reading
It’s August of 2018 and non-compete agreements are still rampant in American markets. Not surprisingly, non-compete litigation remains big business for management-side lawyers, particularly at large corporate firms. But there are cracks in the armor. More and more states are contemplating severe restrictions on the use of non-compete agreements, if not outright bans. And several … Continue reading
In a surprising continuation of Obama-era policy, the Trump DOJ has announced that it will pursue criminal action against firms using no-poaching agreements. On January 18th, 2018, while speaking at an Antitrust Research Foundation conference, Assistant Attorney General Makan Delrahim noted that the DOJ has not backed away from previous no-poaching guidance. Instead, AAG Delrahim … Continue reading
It’s time to take a hard look at non-compete agreements in the car business. Let’s use an example: AutoNation, the Fort-Lauderdale-based car industry giant and Fortune 500 company. For the past twenty years or more, AutoNation has had a field day filing weak non-compete lawsuits. AutoNation files these cases in its backyard, the United States … Continue reading
A recent case out of the Southern District of Florida provides important guidance into the limits of non-compete agreements under Florida law. The case is one of the most comprehensive Florida non-compete decisions of the past several years, whether in state or federal court. Let’s take a look: IDMWorks is a company that specializes in … Continue reading
Last week, the Wall Street Journal ran a story about non-compete agreements making it difficult for younger journalists to get new jobs and move up in the news world. The article focused substantially on a young journalist named Stephanie Russell-Kraft who moved from Law360 to Thomson Reuters. Shortly after beginning work at Thomson Reuters, her … Continue reading
A recent case out of Florida’s Fifth District Court of Appeals raises important raises important issues related to physician non-compete agreements. Let’s take a look: Before addressing the specifics of this case, some context is necessary: Agreements not to compete are restraints of trade. In any non-compete case, there are two lenses: restraint of trade … Continue reading
There are huge problems with agreeing to this sort of consent order. In litigation, a defendant can attack a non-compete or non-solicitation agreement in numerous ways, particularly in the staffing industry context. But once the defendant agrees to a consent order, its over. After a consent order has been issued, the defendant no longer has any right to challenge the enforceability of the restrictions on the merits. Continue reading
In August 2004, Merrill Lynch, Citigroup, and UBS entered a pact not to sue one another over client relationships in their wealth management businesses. This pact was known in the industry as the Protocol for Broker Recruiting or simply the Protocol. Under the Protocol, brokerages essentially agreed that individual brokers could move between firms and … Continue reading
the non-compete blog 