The Law of Employee Mobility: Recent Developments In Non-Competes & Trade Secrets

The law and policy governing non-competes and trade secrets in the workplace is changing. With a new federal trade secrets statute, pending statutory changes in numerous states and high-level policy interest in the impact of non-competes on the workforce and innovation, old assumptions are facing new challenges. As technology uproots old economic structures and the workforce becomes increasingly mobile, practitioners face new challenges in advising and litigating for clients in this evolving legal environment.

This program, taught by John Siegal and Saima Sheikh of Baker Hostetler's Employment Law practice, will provide an update on the laws governing employee restrictive covenants and trade secrets protections, including the impact of the federal Defend Trade Secrets Act, newly enacted and proposed state statutes, and developments in case law from across the country. The program offers both a refresher in the basic principles of law governing trade secrets and restrictive covenants and a re-examination of those principles in light of evolving legal and workforce trends. For experienced practitioners and those first encountering the issues of how to protect intellectual and human resources in a mobile employment market, this course goes beyond the black letter law to look at the purpose and function that the law of trade secrets and non-competes play in the regulation of workforce mobility.

Learning Objectives:

1. Outline the law governing non-competes and trade secrets in the workplace
2. Focus on the purpose and function that the law of non-competes and trade secrets plays in our economy
3. Discuss the reasons for the new policy attention to these issues at the federal and state levels
4. Advise clients and litigate cases in this changing legal and policy environment