Not every non-compete is enforceable. In Illinois, a non-compete must satisfy both statutory requirements under the Freedom to Work Act and common-law reasonableness standards that courts have developed over decades. We review your agreement against every applicable standard to give you a clear assessment of whether your former employer could actually enforce it.

On the statutory side, we check whether the agreement meets the $75,000 salary threshold, whether you received the required 14-day advance review period, and whether your employer provided the mandatory written attorney consultation advisement. If any of these requirements were not met, the agreement may be void as a matter of law — meaning it cannot be enforced regardless of what it says.

On the common-law side, Illinois courts evaluate whether the non-compete protects a legitimate business interest (trade secrets, confidential information, near-permanent customer relationships), whether the duration is reasonable (typically 1–2 years; longer is suspect), whether the geographic scope is tied to the employer’s actual market (not the entire country), and whether the restriction creates undue hardship on your ability to earn a living.

We also examine consideration — what you received in exchange for signing. If you signed the non-compete after you were already employed (not at hire), your employer must have provided adequate consideration: at least two years of continued employment after signing, or independent consideration such as a bonus, raise, or promotion. Without adequate consideration, the agreement is unenforceable under Illinois law.

The Illinois Freedom to Work Act (Public Act 102-0358, effective January 1, 2022) fundamentally changed the enforceability landscape for non-competes in Illinois. For any non-compete agreement entered into, modified, or extended after January 1, 2022, the Act imposes mandatory requirements. Non-compliance renders the agreement void and unenforceable.

Key requirements we check:

• Salary threshold: You must earn at least $75,000 annually to be subject to a non-compete. For non-solicitation agreements, the threshold is $45,000. These thresholds increase by $5,000 every five years.

• 14-day advance review: Your employer must have provided the agreement at least 14 calendar days before the effective date or before your start of employment.

• Attorney consultation advisement: Your employer must have advised you in writing to consult with an attorney before signing.

• Adequate consideration: At hire, employment itself is adequate. Mid-employment, you must have received at least two years of continued employment or other independent consideration.

• No enforcement during COVID-related layoffs: Employers cannot enforce non-competes against employees who were terminated, furloughed, or laid off as a result of COVID-19 unless the employer provided additional consideration equal to at least two weeks’ compensation.

If your employer failed to meet any of these requirements, the agreement is void. The Act also provides that employees can recover attorney’s fees and costs if the employer fails to comply — meaning your employer may pay your legal fees. Many employers, particularly smaller companies, are still using pre-2022 template agreements that do not comply with the Act. This is one of the most common defects we identify.

You have a job offer from a competitor — or a company your former employer might consider a competitor — and you want to know whether accepting it will trigger enforcement of your non-compete. This is the most common reason employees come to us.

We assess the actual risk of accepting the new position by analyzing whether the agreement is enforceable (statutory and common-law analysis), whether the new role actually falls within the scope of the restriction (many non-competes are written broadly but only protect against directly competitive activity), how likely your former employer is to actually pursue enforcement (employers weigh the cost and publicity of litigation), and whether there are ways to structure your new role to minimize overlap with your former employer’s protected interests.

Not every non-compete violation triggers a lawsuit. Many employers use non-competes as deterrents — they want to discourage departures but will not actually spend the money to enforce. We help you evaluate the realistic risk, not just the worst-case scenario written into the agreement.

If you are considering a new position, we recommend having your non-compete reviewed before you accept the offer — not after your former employer sends a cease-and-desist letter.

Non-competes are negotiable — both when you are first asked to sign one and when you are preparing to leave. If you have not yet signed, you may be able to narrow the scope (limit to direct competitors only, reduce the geographic area, shorten the duration), add carve-outs (exempt specific industries or roles), or remove the non-compete entirely and replace it with a non-solicitation agreement, which is less restrictive but still protects the employer’s client relationships.

If you are leaving the company — whether voluntarily or through termination — the non-compete can be negotiated as part of your exit or severance negotiation. Employers often agree to waive or narrow a non-compete in exchange for a clean separation, a release of claims, or other concessions. This is especially true when the non-compete has enforceability problems that the employer’s attorney recognizes.

We handle negotiation directly with your employer or their counsel. Having an attorney raise enforceability concerns — particularly Freedom to Work Act defects — carries significantly more weight than raising them yourself.

You left your job and started a new position. Now your former employer’s attorney has sent a cease-and-desist letter demanding that you stop working, stop contacting clients, or return to compliance with your non-compete. This is intimidating — and it is designed to be. But a cease-and-desist letter is not a court order. It is a demand letter, and you are not legally required to comply with it.

However, ignoring it entirely is risky. If your former employer escalates to a TRO (temporary restraining order) filing, your response to the cease-and-desist — or lack of response — becomes part of the court record. We craft strategic responses that protect your legal position without unnecessary admissions, assert enforceability defenses if they exist, and create a framework for resolving the dispute without litigation if possible.

In many cases, a well-crafted attorney response to a cease-and-desist letter is enough to resolve the situation. When the former employer’s attorney sees a detailed analysis of the non-compete’s enforceability problems, they often advise their client to negotiate rather than litigate.

If your former employer has filed for a temporary restraining order (TRO) or preliminary injunction to stop you from working, you need immediate legal representation. TRO hearings can happen within days — sometimes ex parte (without your presence) — and a court order to stop working has an immediate impact on your income and your new position.

To obtain injunctive relief, your former employer must demonstrate likelihood of success on the merits (the non-compete is enforceable and you are violating it), irreparable harm that cannot be remedied by money damages, that the balance of hardships favors them, and that the injunction serves the public interest. We defend against each element — and when the non-compete has enforceability defects, the employer’s likelihood of success drops significantly.

We also defend against trade secret misappropriation claims that employers often file alongside non-compete claims under the Illinois Trade Secrets Act (ITSA) and the federal Defend Trade Secrets Act (DTSA). These claims can exist independently of the non-compete, and they require separate analysis and defense strategy. If you have been sued or received notice of a filing, contact us immediately.

If you are being offered a severance agreement, this is often the best opportunity to address your non-compete. Severance negotiations give you leverage because your employer wants your signature on a release — and you can condition that signature on the waiver, modification, or removal of your non-compete.

Common negotiation outcomes include complete waiver of the non-compete, narrowing the scope (reducing the geographic area, shortening the duration, or limiting to specific named competitors), converting the non-compete to a less restrictive non-solicitation agreement, or adding a carve-out for a specific new employer or industry.

If your employer is asking you to sign a new non-compete as part of your severance agreement, the Freedom to Work Act requirements apply fully — including the $75,000 salary threshold, 14-day advance review period, and written attorney consultation advisement. We review the severance and non-compete together to ensure you are not giving up more than you should.

Non-solicitation agreements are different from non-competes — they do not prevent you from working in your industry. Instead, they restrict you from actively soliciting your former employer’s clients, customers, or employees. Under the Freedom to Work Act, non-solicitation agreements require a lower salary threshold ($45,000 annually) but must still meet the 14-day advance review and attorney consultation requirements.

The key question with non-solicitation agreements is the definition of “solicitation.” Does the agreement only prohibit you from affirmatively reaching out to clients, or does it also prohibit you from accepting business from clients who come to you independently? This distinction matters enormously. A properly drafted non-solicitation agreement prevents active solicitation but should not prevent a client from choosing to follow you on their own initiative.

We also review non-solicitation of employees provisions — clauses that prevent you from recruiting former colleagues to join you at a new company. These restrictions can limit your ability to build a team and may be overbroad depending on how they define the affected employees and the prohibited activity. We assess enforceability and, where possible, negotiate narrower terms.