re: non-compete question* EDIT and bump

quote:

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the 5 to 10 thousand in legal fees it may take (or more)

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Oh, it's usually A LOT more. 5 to 10 thousand will get you through the initial pleadings filed with the court probably.

To the OP, enforceability of non-competes vary from state to state. True "non-competes" are difficult to enfore, but non-solicitation (i.e., of clients) and other measures to protect the book of business and/or proprietary information are usually enforceable to some degree.

If you didn't sign anything you should be fine to do what you want although the company's trade secrets are protected from theft / unauthorized use by statute (no contract needed). Usually just a list of client names and contact information is not going to rise to the level of a trade secret though.