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Many small businesses use non-solicitation provisions to protect their relationships with their workforce and their clients. But be careful, they are not universally enforceable.
In short, you can include a non-solicitation provision in your client agreement that prohibits the client from soliciting your employees and contractors to work with the client directly (without going through you). These provisions typically last during the term of the client agreement and for some time thereafter (like one year).
(On the opposite side of your business, you can include a non-solicitation provision in your contractor agreement to prohibit your contractors from working directly with your clients (without going through you). You’d normally include a term on this just like above.)
It is important to recognize that this is not a non-compete. Under a non-compete, the restricted party is literally prohibited from competing with the protected party. Non-solicitation provisions are not quite that broad because they only deal with clients, employees, or contractors.
Most states will enforce non-solicitation agreements. However, a small number of states, like California, restrict when they can be used, if at all. Moreover, virtually no state will enforce a non-solicitation that is unreasonable and not intended to protect a legitimate business interest.
There’s so much more to learn! Here are a few related guides you should read:
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