As previously noted in our Coolidge Wall blog (https://www.coollaw.com/blog/2023/01/ftc-proposes-rule-to-ban-noncompete-clauses/), on January 5, 2023, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking called the “Non-Compete Clause Rule” (the “Proposed Rule”). The Proposed Rule would prohibit employers in most industries from executing or maintaining noncompetition agreements with their employees and other workers.  This exercise of executive branch power would interfere with the ability of companies and individuals to enter contracts, in the name of preventing “restraints on trade.”  The Proposed Rule would literally void noncompetition agreements already in existence, and it would, we predict, have enormous unintended negative consequences …