Non-solicitation agreements fail in CA

A California court has awarded a big victory to IT professionals who have found themselves constrained after being forced to sign a non-solicitation agreement to prevent them from taking clients and co-workers away when they leave their company. Earlier this month, the California State Supreme Court ruled in Edwards vs. Arthur Andersen that non-solicitation provisions in employment agreements are no longer legal in the Golden State. Employers, whether they're based in California or out of state, can no longer apply such provisions to California residents.

Such agreements will only be valid to protect trade secrets, the court said. John Lecrone, a partner with the law firm Davis Wright Tremaine, told CIO.com that the court's ruling is significant because it rejected a long line of federal court rulings. But he said he doesn't think other state courts are going to follow California. "Most other states allow non-compete and non-solicitation agreements as long as they're reasonable," he said.

For more on this ruling:
- see this CIO.com article