Roundtable on preparing for California’s new, nationwide noncompete ban is available

As everyone reading this likely knows, California will be exporting its ban on noncompetes, nonsolicits, and likely no-recruits to the rest of the country — whether the other states like it or not.

On Friday, November 17 (2023), Beck Reed Riden LLP hosted a brainstorming session with over 40 of the leading trade secret / restrictive covenant / employee mobility lawyers from around the country.

The agenda was as follows:

• Update on what has happened.
  • Summary of California’s current law (for background).
    • Bus. & Prof. Code §§ 16600 – 16602.5; and
    • Labor Code § 925
  • Explanation of California’s new laws.
    • Bus. & Prof. Code §§ 16600 (amended)
    • Bus. & Prof. Code §§ 16600.1
    • Bus. & Prof. Code §§ 16600.5
  • Brief summary (for context) of other developments this year and predictions for additional changes.
• Practical implications of California’s changes.
  • What agreements are at risk.
  • Who will actually be affected and how.
• Strategies for protecting trade secrets, customer relationships, and workforce integrity in light of California’s change:
  • What to do about existing noncompetes, nonsolicitation agreements, no-recruit agreements, confidentiality agreements, and others.
  • How to draft restrictive covenants going forward.
  • Alternatives to traditional restrictive covenants.
  • Other strategies for companies to consider.

The conclusion?

Houston, we have a problem.

The recording of the brainstorming session is available here: Responding to California’s New, Expanded Anti-Restrictive Covenant Laws: 

Within the next week or so, I will be providing more details about the roundtable, including, in particular, the text of the relevant statutes and citations and links for the various cases that were discussed.

Additional firm resources: 

We know how hard it is to keep up with the ever-changing requirements around the country. To help, we have created the following resources (available for free):

• 50-State Noncompete Law Chart, the first of its kind and regularly updated (downloadable PDF);
• Chart of Noncompete “Low-Wage” Thresholds and Criteria (downloadable);
• Notice requirements summary chart, providing details for each of the 8 states (plus D.C.) that has notice requirements related to noncompetes (downloadable PDF);
• 50-State and Federal Trade Secret Law Chart, providing a comparison of the trade secrets laws nationally to the Uniform Trade Secrets Act (downloadable PDF).
• “Changing Trade Secrets | Noncompete Laws” (dedicated blog page) now provides a current detailed summary of the changing landscape of trade secret laws and noncompete laws around the country, state by state and at the federal level;
• Trade secret and other legitimate business interest protection plan strategy and checklist; and
• Ten Minute Trade Secret Training Series, currently with three training videos and one “basics” video:
  • Avoiding Mistakes When Starting A New Job;
  • Protecting Trade Secrets While Working Remotely;
  • The Exit Plan: Being a Good Leaver; and
  • Fair Competition Law Basics – What is a Trade Secret?

We hope you find all of these resources useful. More are coming.

And please note that we are grateful for all of the input we’ve received over the years, and welcome any suggestions for improvements that you may be willing to share.

* * *

*A huge thank you to Erika Hahn for all of her extraordinary help with the California roundtable and in tracking and monitoring all of the bills around the country and helping me make sure that all of our resources are current and accurate.