Houston Non-Compete Agreement Attorneys

Drafting, Reviewing, Enforcing, and Defending Non-Compete Agreements in Texas Since 1987

A non-compete agreement is only as valuable as its enforceability. In Texas, courts apply strict scrutiny to these agreements – and will reform or refuse to enforce those that are overbroad, lack adequate consideration, or fail to protect a legitimate business interest. A signed agreement is not the same as a protected business.

If you are an employer, a former employee may already be working against the agreement they signed – soliciting your clients, recruiting your team, and competing directly. If you are an employee or executive, you may be weighing a job offer or holding a cease-and-desist letter and wondering whether it reflects a real legal threat or a pressure tactic.

Either way, the most expensive move is acting on an incomplete assessment. The outcome depends on the specific language of the agreement and how Texas courts have treated similar situations.

Hendershot Cowart P.C. has drafted, reviewed, negotiated, and litigated non-compete agreements in Houston and across Texas since 1987. We represent employers, employees, executives, and independent contractors – as well as buyers and sellers of businesses – and we pursue and defend non-compete violation claims from the first demand letter through trial.

Call (713) 783-3110 or contact us online to schedule a consultation.

On This Page

• How Our Non-Compete Agreement Attorneys Can Help
• Is a Non-Compete Agreement Enforceable in Texas?
• Can Texas Courts Void or Modify Non-Compete Agreements?
• How Do You Enforce a Non-Compete Agreement in Texas?
• Preparing for Non-Compete Litigation
• My Employee Did Not Sign a Non-Compete – Can They Still Be Stopped From Competing Against Me?
• Can I Hire Someone Who Signed a Non-Compete?
• How Do I Get Out of a Non-Compete Agreement in Texas?
• Special Considerations for Texas Physician Non-Compete Agreements
• Non-Compete Disputes Move Fast – So Should You
• Frequently Asked Questions

Whether you need a non-compete drafted, enforced, challenged, or reviewed before you sign, our attorneys can help:

• Review an agreement before you sign. We review and negotiate non-competes and other restrictive covenants for prospective employees who need clear guidance on their rights and options before signing an employment contract. Non-competes must be reasonable in their restrictions to be enforceable. Executives often face special circumstances that call for additional negotiation and modifications.
• Enforce your agreements. If a current or former employee has taken your proprietary or confidential information or improperly joined a competitor or client, we use every available legal remedy to limit the damage and prevent misappropriation of trade secrets.
• Defend against violation claims. We defend employees, executives, and their new employers using the strongest available defenses, including the employer's own breach of contract, restrictions too broad to enforce, or the absence of a legitimate business interest.
• Draft enforceable agreements. We draft non-competes and restructure other contracts so you have enforceable, business-critical protections in place. Every Texas non-compete must be specific and limited in geographic area, scope of activity, and duration.

Yes – non-compete agreements are legally binding and enforceable in Texas, but only if they meet specific requirements. Depending on the work you do and the information your company handles, your business can live and die by the strength of these agreements. And not every non-compete is created equal.

To be enforceable in Texas, a non-compete agreement must:

• Be ancillary to (part of) an otherwise enforceable agreement, such as an employment agreement
• Be supported by consideration (something of value in return, such as specialized training or confidential information)
• Be reasonable in scope of activity
• Be reasonable in geographic area
• Be reasonable in duration

Courts also look closely at whether a non-compete is overly burdensome to the individual and their professional future. The agreement must be tailored to the specific employee and designed to protect legitimate business interests – for example, trade secrets, confidential information, and business goodwill.

If a court finds any of these elements broader than necessary to protect the business, the court will reform the agreement – rewriting the restriction to make it reasonable – or refuse to enforce it. Our attorneys can tell you what limits are reasonable for your industry and which elements can be challenged if you want out of an agreement.

If your team works remotely or serves clients nationwide, read our guide to drafting enforceable non-compete agreements for a remote workforce, which walks through common scenarios and how to protect your business interests.

Physicians and other healthcare practitioners face additional requirements under Texas law, including new rules that took effect September 1, 2025. See the physician section below.

Enforcing a non-compete is not always all or nothing. In Texas, a court can modify – or even nullify – a non-compete it finds unreasonable. Courts have wide latitude to reform an agreement if the scope of activity, duration, or geographic area is too restrictive.

Courts can also order the party seeking to enforce a non-compete to pay the other side's attorney's fees if the employer knew the restriction was overly broad and tried to enforce it anyway.

Employers can pursue injunctive relief (a court order stopping the competitive activity), compensatory and lost-profit damages, and in some cases attorney's fees. Enforcement should begin the moment you suspect a violation. Courts pay attention to how quickly an employer acts. A significant delay can signal to a judge that the harm was not as urgent or irreparable as claimed, weakening your case.

A common first step is to file a lawsuit and seek a temporary restraining order (TRO), followed by a temporary injunction. These orders stop the harmful activity while you and your attorney build the case – another reason to act quickly.

To obtain a TRO or temporary injunction, you must show:

• A valid cause of action (legal claim) exists;
• You have a probable right to the relief you are seeking; and
• You face a probable, imminent, and irreparable injury with no adequate remedy at law.

Building a thorough case means gathering evidence, witness testimony, and documents through discovery. That process typically includes access to the former employee's work devices and email accounts, forensic analysis of data transfers and deletions, depositions of key witnesses, and records of customer communications or solicitations.

If the case goes to trial or settles through negotiation or mediation in your favor, available damages can include compensatory damages for actual losses caused by the violation. Where trade secrets were misappropriated, damages can also include lost profits, the value an investor would have paid for the information, and potential royalties for its use.

See the full timeline of what can happen after a non-compete violation in Texas.

If you suspect an employee or former employee is violating their non-compete, act quickly. Start by gathering the facts and talking with an attorney to confirm you have legal grounds for a claim.

• Documents. Collect a copy of every document the employee signed. If the employee signed the non-compete in exchange for benefits, gather records of those benefits too.
• Witness interviews. Coworkers may have seen the violation, and clients or customers can confirm suspected solicitation. Before asking a customer or client for an affidavit (a sworn written statement), consider how the request may affect the business relationship. Your attorney can help you balance the interests of your business with the needs of your case.
• Electronic evidence. You can often preserve electronic evidence by identifying which files the employee accessed, transferred, printed, or deleted. Preserve their emails and hard drives immediately, collect employer-provided equipment such as laptops and cell phones, and remove their access to shared systems and drives. These steps also limit the damage.
• Enforceability. Once you have evidence of the violation, confirm your agreement is enforceable. Your attorney can evaluate it under Texas law.

Yes, in two situations:

• Breach of fiduciary duty. Even without a written agreement, employees owe their employer a fiduciary duty of loyalty. If an employee takes confidential or proprietary information, misappropriates trade secrets, or solicits customers while still employed, the employer may be able to sue for breach of that duty.
• Trade secret misappropriation. Under the Texas Uniform Trade Secrets Act, an employee cannot take and use a former employer's trade secrets.

That said, we recommend that employers require employees to sign confidentiality agreements or non-solicitation agreements rather than relying on these common-law duties alone.

Yes, but if you hire someone with a non-compete in place, both you and your new employee are exposed to potential litigation. To manage that exposure, you can require the new hire to sign a statement confirming their non-compete obligations and agreeing not to use the former employer's confidential information.

You can also have an attorney review the candidate's non-compete, evaluate whether it is enforceable under Texas law, and explore legal alternatives to exiting the agreement. Your attorney can clarify which activities the agreement restricts and help you design the role to avoid violations until the agreement expires.

Be prepared for the possibility of a lawsuit. Work with your attorney now to plan how you and your new employee would respond if sued, including your defenses and potential counterclaims.

Whether you can get out of a non-compete – and how – depends on your specific agreement and the facts of your situation. A demand letter or cease-and-desist is not a judgment, and not every non-compete claim holds up under scrutiny. Texas courts recognize several defenses, from inadequate consideration and overly broad restrictions to conduct by the employer that undermines its own right to enforce the agreement.

See the full list of defenses we pursue and how they might apply to your situation.

If you have received a demand letter or expect one, call us before you respond. Early guidance usually gives you more options than waiting or reacting on your own.

Because physician non-compete agreements affect doctor-patient relationships, Texas law sets requirements beyond those for an executive non-compete. A physician non-compete must:

• Give the physician access to a list of patients treated within the year before leaving the practice
• Give the physician reasonable access, with patient consent, to relevant medical records
• Allow the physician to continue caring for patients who need acute care after the contract or employment ends
• Include a buyout provision that allows the physician to buy out of the agreement. Effective September 1, 2025, under Texas Senate Bill 1318, the buyout cannot exceed the practitioner's total annual salary and wages at the time the contract ends
• Limit the restricted area to a five-mile radius of where the physician or covered healthcare practitioner primarily practiced (effective September 1, 2025)
• Last no longer than one year after the contract or employment ends (effective September 1, 2025)
• State all terms and conditions clearly and conspicuously in writing (effective September 1, 2025)

With established practices in both business law and healthcare law, Hendershot Cowart P.C. drafts, negotiates, and reviews non-compete agreements for physicians, medical professionals, and hospitals across Texas.

Whether a former employee is already working for a competitor or you have just received a cease-and-desist letter, the window to act is narrow. Courts grant – and deny – temporary restraining orders quickly, and the evidence that matters most can disappear just as fast.

Hendershot Cowart P.C. represents both employers enforcing non-compete agreements and employees and executives defending against them. Because we draft these agreements and litigate them, we know which provisions hold up in court – and which ones do not. During a confidential consultation, we will tell you clearly where you stand.

Our team will:

• Review your agreement and assess enforceability under Texas law
• Identify your strongest available remedies or defenses
• Move quickly if injunctive relief is on the table
• Pursue or defend against claims for damages, attorney's fees, and trade secret misappropriation

What Our Clients Say

A client who came to Trey Hendershot with an employment matter involving an NDA and the freedom to work described the experience this way:

"We engaged with Hendershot Cowart on an employment matter regarding NDA and freedom to work. ... He was proactive and got our matter resolved in short order."

– Derek T., Google review, January 2025

Results depend on the specific facts and legal circumstances of each case. Past results do not guarantee or predict a similar outcome in any future matter.

Read more client testimonials.

Call (713) 783-3110 or contact us online to schedule a confidential consultation. We represent clients throughout Texas.

Are non-compete agreements negotiable?

Yes – more often than employees realize.

Many people assume a non-compete presented alongside a job offer is a take-it-or-leave-it condition of employment. That is rarely true, particularly for candidates with specialized skills, senior-level experience, or knowledge the employer needs. The agreement is a contract, and like any contract, its terms can be discussed before you sign.

Before signing, have an attorney review the agreement. An experienced non-compete attorney can identify provisions that are overbroad or unlikely to be enforceable under Texas law, explain what the restrictions mean for your career, and tell you what is standard for your industry and role. That gives you a foundation for negotiation instead of guesswork.

Common points of negotiation include:

• Geographic scope. Restricting competition to the territory where you actually work or serve clients, rather than a broader region or the whole state
• Duration. Reducing the restriction period to something courts are more likely to enforce, typically one to two years
• Scope of activity. Narrowing the prohibited activities to specific competitive conduct rather than a broad ban on working in your field
• Specific competitors. Limiting the restriction to named direct competitors rather than any company in the same general industry
• Consideration. If the employer is asking you to accept significant restrictions, you can use that as a bargaining point for higher pay, additional benefits, or other terms

If full negotiation is not possible, ask whether a non-disclosure agreement or non-solicitation agreement can replace the non-compete. These alternatives protect the employer's legitimate interests – confidential information and client relationships – without restricting your ability to work in your field.

What should executives consider before signing a non-compete agreement?

Executives often have more negotiating power than other employees because of their position and value to the company. Because these agreements affect your future professional options, work with an attorney to review the terms and negotiate changes where needed. For a senior executive, preserving post-employment opportunities is usually the top concern.

We review executive non-competes with a focus on how the agreement may limit your future options or create exposure to violation claims. We have negotiated and modified executive non-compete agreements since 1987.

What counts as consideration for a Texas non-compete agreement?

For a non-compete to be enforceable in Texas, the employee must receive something of value in exchange for agreeing to the restrictions – and it must be tied to the employer's legitimate business interests, not simply the job itself.

Recognized forms of consideration in Texas can include:

• Access to confidential information or trade secrets. If an employer gives an employee proprietary business information – pricing strategies, client lists, product formulas, internal processes – as part of their role, that access can support a non-compete. The employer's implied or express promise to provide that information is enough, even if the information is delivered after the agreement is signed.
• Specialized training. Employer-funded training that gives an employee skills or knowledge they would not otherwise have – an industry certification, a proprietary method, or technical knowledge specific to the employer's business – can be adequate consideration.
• Equity compensation. Texas courts have recognized stock options and other equity compensation tied to protecting the employer's goodwill as sufficient consideration, as long as the connection between the compensation and the employer's protectable interest is clear.

What typically does not qualify: a pay raise, a bonus, a severance package, or continued at-will employment on its own. These may have value to the employee, but Texas courts have consistently found they are not tied closely enough to the employer's interest in protecting confidential information, trade secrets, or business goodwill.

I signed a non-compete with my previous employer. Is it safe to start my own business?

It depends. Some non-compete agreements are unenforceable and will not affect your plans. But if your new business would directly violate a reasonable, likely enforceable non-compete, you may need to wait until it expires or set up outside the restricted geographic area to avoid the threat of litigation.

Before you make a move, read about the most common mistakes Texas employees and executives make when leaving to compete – some can turn a defensible situation into an expensive one. Then talk with an attorney about your situation.

Are non-compete agreements in Texas enforceable if the employee is laid off or fired?

Yes. A non-compete can be enforced in Texas after an employee is terminated – regardless of the reason – as long as the agreement is reasonable in scope and duration and meets the other requirements outlined above.

Related: Can You Enforce a Non-Compete After Its Expiration Date? · How Are Non-Compete Geographic Boundaries Determined?

Your Texas Non-Compete Law Firm – Contact Hendershot Cowart P.C. Today

Like any contract, a non-compete agreement (also called a covenant not to compete) should be entered into with clarity. Companies that use outdated templates or poorly drafted agreements can face serious financial consequences if those agreements turn out to be unenforceable.

We have reviewed, drafted, enforced, and defended non-compete and non-disclosure agreements since 1987 – nearly 40 years. Whether you have a question about your employment agreement, need a non-compete drafted, or need to enforce or challenge one, we can help.

Have a job offer on the table or a cease-and-desist letter in hand? Call (713) 783-3110 or contact us online to schedule a consultation.