Anyone have an example of a non compete clause w.r.t to terms and conditions of employmentie when you leave the company who can you work for and for how long (eg. can't work for clients or prospective clients for 12months etc)Can't seem to find my old one to compare hence looking for advice and examples of typical clauses for the Big4 or medium size consultancies - thanks in advance

Basically what you said: for a period of 12 months you can't work for a direct client or competitor.

from experience, there can be a little bit of negotiability on these based around the spirit of the thing, which is revenue protection - for example if wording is around the 'company's clients/prospects' then you can tune it to 'your clients/prospects' or your practice's clients/prospects - as locking yourself out of the client base in its widest sense of someone like IBM would preclude you working pretty much anywhere....

@qn - not working for a direct competitor would be a no go in my book. not working for the same client through a direct competitor is acceptable@rc i think the prospects is qualified by an additional clause which is having direct contact with them which seems fair tbhbut there is no list of who are deemed to be competitors or what defines a prospective client its my first job move hence looking at a contract in a bit more detail for the first time. as usual the working for client is not always enforced as they want to keep the relationship alivejust wanted to know what the clauses are for others as tbh before this it was my first graduate job hence didn't really pay attention to the contract

I'd say it's worth paying a local employment lawyer a hundred quid or so for half an hour's genuinely-informed advice - there may be clauses in there which look scary but are in fact legally unenforcable and which you can safely ignore (as a grad you probably won't have the leverage to change them).

Most non-competes are geared towards senior hires particularily Partners and Directors so unless you are at this level it is unlikely that your current employer would go to the trouble of enforcing the non compete unless they could prove that you took sizeable revenues away from them due to their ICAlso even at a partner level there are ways around non-compete clauses.

Tell us more about these ways of getting around a non-compete clause. Be as detailed and informative as possible. Thank you.

As the man says: talk to a solicitor if it really matters to you. my own experience echoes above i.e. if a clause sounds unreasonable then it's probably unenforceable

Info only; definitely not advice or any pointers for success (go see your own employement lawyer if you're really that concerned)One example I've seen is where the client specifically asked for a particular individual (who'd handed in his notice 1 month beforehand) and very strongly hinted that not much future work wouuld come the consultancy's way if the answer was no.The noncompete clause was basically 6 months restriction unless the associate partner agreed in writing to waive it - in this case he didn't really have a choice.More general cases - on a case by case basis. One factor to consider is whether you think your (soon to be ex) senior management team have the balls to put this through an employment tribunal in the current circumstances, particularly if the "unfair restraint of trade" arguement is made.

Not really an issue at consulting level. So much job hopping that its just too much hassle to try and envoke a non compete clause. Could become a real issue at partner + level particularly where they have valuable skills or are taking other team members with you. Don't take these clauses lightly as some companies can become particularly agressive. They might not be able to win using the non compete clause but how would you feel if they got a court order seizing your home computers and childrens phones to try and prove you were sending conf info to a competitor as part of the recruitment process or sued you for theft - remember that pencil three years ago or the slightly inflated expense claim?When talking to a lawyer also ask about chances of winning. Not all countries have employment tribunals and courts in some countries are going to be more supportive of a big employer than the employee.In addition, if you are being paid to stay on gardening leave then expect to be thumped very hard if you are take their money and slip off to a competitor.