Litigation Counsel Paul J. Greco Talks to The Wall Street Journal about Noncompete Agreements

Paul J. Greco, counsel in Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney’s Litigation Section, was quoted in a recent article in The Wall Street Journal about the increased litigation regarding noncompete agreements. The article describes the 60% rise in the number of departing employees who were sued by previous employers in the past decade for breaching noncompete agreements.

Noncompete agreements are required by many employers to protect themselves from employees taking customer data, trade secrets and business contacts with them when they leave. The article describes the possible negative impact that noncompete agreements can have on entrepreneurship.

As Greco explains, noncompete agreements, which are often signed at the beginning of employment, are “reaching wider and deeper within organizations” to affect sales representatives, engineers, researchers and innovators, rather than just top executives like they used to largely target.

The article also appeared on page B1 of the print edition of The Wall Street Journal with the headline, “When a New Job Leads to a Lawsuit.”

Read the full article – “Litigation Over Noncompete Clauses Is Rising” (The Wall Street Journal, August 15, 2013)