Gov. Patrick Again Expresses Doubts About Noncompetes

As reported in the Boston Business Journal, this week at the annual meeting of the Mass. Technology Leadership Council, Governor Deval Patrick again expressed his view that non-competition agreements restrain jobs and that arguments in favor of eliminating them altogether are “compelling.” At the same time, the Governor acknowledged that he knows there are technology executives who support continued enforcement of these agreements. As reported on this blog, Gov. Patrick has previously expressed his misgivings about the continued enforceability of non-competes, and in 2011 his administration exhorted the legislature to reform the current common law. That reform effort stalled. It remains to be seen whether the administration will more aggressively support efforts to legislate a new set of limitations on noncompetes.