Noncompetes After the FTC Reversal: What Employers Must Know Now

Courtney Lytle Sarnow | CM Law

Courtney Sarnow is a partner in the Atlanta office of CM Law with over twenty-five years of experience in a broad-based transactional practice with a specific focus on intellectual property and technology. She has developed a distinctly creative and problem-solving approach to address client plans and issues. As a young attorney, Ms. Sarnow learned that focusing on what a client can’t do and shouldn’t do is unnecessarily limiting and seldom helps the client maximize corporate opportunities. Her approach of looking for ways to accomplish corporate goals within an informed legal framework is more valuable for growth focused, technology forward companies than a stereotypical corporate counsel who instinctively thwarts innovation.

Early in her career with Dow, Lohnes & Albertson in Atlanta, she worked in the Mergers & Acquisitions Group and in IP Licensing with traditional clients, as well as some unusual NASCAR and Professional Bull Rider representation thrown in from time to time. This gave her an appreciation for creative clients. After a sojourn in Philadelphia at Temple University as a Teaching Fellow earning an LLM in Law Teaching and studying developing issues in computer law and software licensing, she returned to Atlanta to teach as an Adjunct at Emory Law and develop a practice focused on intellectual property protection and general corporate strategies for artists, inventors and innovative entrepreneurial ventures.

I. FTC’s original justification for the ban and legal authority challenges | 1:00pm – 1:20pm

II. Federal court injunction and withdrawal of the rule (Sept 2025) | 1:20pm – 1:40pm

III. Current landscape: FTC’s focus on unfair competition claims under §5 of the FTC Act | 1:40pm – 2:00pm

Break | 2:00pm – 2:10pm

IV. Patchwork of state noncompete laws and new reforms post-ban withdrawal | 2:10pm – 2:40pm

V. Best practices for drafting compliant restrictive covenants (noncompete, nonsolicitation, confidentiality) | 2:40pm – 3:10pm