Hi Al,

I am not worried about adding value for my clients. But I think it's prudent to proactively discuss and document my concerns with any sub-contractors I may hire. As my business grows, I anticipate working with sub-contractors on a more frequent basis, and this will mean that I may be working with people who I don't have any personal history with. In order to avoid any misunderstandings, I want to proactively document my expectations for issues like directly competing for business with clients that I've worked hard to develop. In addition to documenting my expectations, I'm hoping to get some feedback regarding what others think fair expectations may be, i.e. a limited (X month) non-compete agreement, non-disclosure of company technology, protection for my firm's framework source code, etc.

Judging by the tone of your response I assume that you think my concerns are unnecesary and/or unwarranted? Is your perspective that of a primary contractor, sub-contractor, or client?

Thanks for your response.

Malcolm



>>Does anyone have any thougths or boilerplate for sub-contractor contracts where one of the intents of the contract is to prevent a sub-contractor from directly 'propositioning' a client for a given period of time. I'm looking for a sample clause as well as objective 'good faith' criteria for specifying the length of such a period (3, 6, or 9 months, or 1 or 2 years).
>>
>>I'm also interested in hearing your opinions on how strong these type of agreements are, in other words, are today's 'right-to-work' laws so strong that any agreements attempting to prevent commerce between two parties are thrown out by the courts?
>>
>>My goal is to come up with a simple, plain English type of agreement designed to protect my clients from being exploited by any sub-contractors I may employ. I'm not looking for the 'perfect' contract - just some general advice.
>
>Although I've never encountered such a contract I'm sure lots of people here have, and can share some ideas.


>A bigger question might be, if you're adding value for your client, why are you worried?