Trade Secrets & Employee Mobility

In March of this year, Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee signed into law a bill titled “An Act To Clarify That a Covenant Not to Compete Agreement Is Unenforceable for Certain Licensed Medical Professionals" (the “Act”).  The Act amends Arkansas’s statute governing noncompete agreements to clarify that any noncompete that “restricts the right of a physician to practice within the physician’s scope of practice is void.” 

The Act is set to take effect 90 days after the conclusion of the current legislative session, so it is anticipated that the Act will take effect on or about July 15, 2025.  The Act does not state whether it applies prospectively only or whether it will have retroactive effect, and, therefore, invalidate existing physician noncompete agreements. 

The Act defines “physician” as any person authorized or licensed to practice medicine under the Arkansas Medical Practices Act or a person authorized to practice osteopathy under Arkansas statute. 

Our colleagues Peter A. Steinmeyer, Erik W. Weibust, and Angel A. Perez, attorneys at Epstein Becker Green, co-authored a 2022 Thomson Reuters Practical Law Practice Note titled “Ethical Issues for Attorneys Related to Restrictive Covenants.”

Following is an excerpt (see below to download the full version in PDF format):

A federal judge in Chicago recently taught a painful lesson to an Illinois employer: even if information is sufficiently sensitive and valuable that it could qualify as a “trade secret,” it won’t unless the owner of the information took adequate steps to protect its secrecy.

In a thorough opinion issued in the case, Abrasic 90 Inc., d/b/a CGW Camel Grinding Wheels, USA v. Weldcote Metals, Inc., Joseph O’Mera and Colleen Cervencik, U.S. District Judge John J. Tharp, Jr. of the Northern District of Illinois explained that “there are two basic elements to the analysis” of ...