At their inception, non-compete agreements were intended to prevent former executives and senior management from transferring a business’s sensitive information—e.g., trade secrets, intellectual property, and certain proprietary information—to competitors. Today their use is much more widespread. Almost 20% of American workers are subject to non-compete agreements and 12% of those workers are in low-skill, low-wage jobs that do not involve trade secrets. What’s more, the u

I’m frequently asked to review contracts sent to a startup by a counterparty. I’ve learned not to be surprised when I see a clear indication that the contract was not prepared for that specific business relationship. Some contracts contain the names of the wrong parties, others have a conspicuous watermark on the document, and some contain terms that make absolutely no sense in the context of the agreement. These issues typically arise in one of two scenarios. In the first sc