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Comments

rradcliff@lwllp.com

Thanks for the survey. Definitely increasing in Texas as the courts have made them easier to enforce. More and more industries using non-competes.

staffing software

I used to know an employer that would get so angry whenever an employee would quit that he would do anything in his power to make that person's life miserable. One of the best ways to do that, he found, was by suing them when they got a new job.

What a waste of money and energy.

David Foley

Your data tracks with Google searches for "non compete agreement" although curiously "noncompete agreement" doesn't track with either.

David Foley

I couldn't embed the image of the graph. Here is the link to the google insight trends graph on this:
http://www.google.com/insights/search/#q=non%20compete%20agreement%2Cnoncompete%20agreement&geo=US&cmpt=q

Jay Shepherd

Interesting, David. Of course, as you know, searches on Google and Lexis are very different animals. I'd be curious to see what you found.

Relatedly, I've noticed that Google shows a lot of searches for "non compete" as two words, which it never is. "Noncompete" is the correct way to spell it; a hyphen after "non" is incorrect (although Google ignores the hyphen anyway). And a space after "non" is just non sensical. (See what I did there?)

Thanks for your comment, and Happy New Year.

— Jay

P.S. Check out David's fine labor-law blog, LaborRelated.

David Foley

Thanks, Jay. I'm sure part of the problem is that when you google noncompete, it redirects you, asking if you meant "non compete." I guess that a lot of people go for the redirect. I wonder if the original search is recorded for search tracking or left out as errant. If the original is left out, that would explain the lack of a rise in "noncompete" searches. Non sense indeed.

Andy Arnold

There is no doubt that I am seeing more employees who seek advice considering non-competes they have signed or are being asked to sign. One trend that seems to be much more prevalent than 10 years ago is the number of employers who see non-competes in exchange for severance. You are right to note most of the issues involving non-competes never become evidenced by a published decision.

Interesting figures in your survey..I believe the numbers are truly indicative of a trend that will only continue its upward spiral.

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