USD School of Law Professor Orly Lobel Quoted Extensively on Federal Trade Commission’s Ban on Noncompetes

SAN DIEGO (May 1, 2024) – University of San Diego (USD) School of Law Warren Distinguished Professor of Law Orly Lobel has been extensively quoted in support of the Federal Trade Commission’s new rule that bans noncompete agreements nationwide. According to the FTC, the ban will protect the fundamental freedom of workers to change jobs, increase innovation, and foster new business formation.

Professor Lobel is explicitly cited in the rule banning noncompetes. Citing to Lobel’s research, the FTC writes, “When senior executives are hired by new companies, they bring their experience and understanding of the industry, which may cross-pollinate with the capabilities of the new company, cultivating new research which would not otherwise be achieved.” It is a central idea of Professor Lobel’s book Talent Wants to Be Free (Yale Univ. Press, 2013). The FTC final rule also cites Lobel’s 2022 coauthored Day One Report on nondisclosure agreements (NDAs). Lobel has also co-authored a Day One Report on noncompetes with Professor Mark Lemley (Stanford). 

Prior to the rule being passed, Professor Lobel was quoted in a Huffington Post article examining the potential effects of a nationwide ban on noncompetes. She explained that in California, a state that had already banned noncompetes, banning noncompetes helped to bring entrepreneurship and venture capital investment to the region. “Employers learn to use carrots rather than sticks to secure retention,” Professor Lobel said, citing incentives such as stock options and greater company innovation to get employees to stay in California.

Professor Lobel also explained in a Bloomberg article that “noncompetes can also reinforce gender and racial pay gaps, harming women and people of color.”

It has been 11 years since Professor Lobel published her book Talent Wants to Be Free, calling for a national ban on noncompetes. In 2016, she served on President Obama’s policy team on labor market competition and in 2020 Lobel keynoted  the first-ever FTC meeting on noncompetes. The rule is now facing legal challenges, with three lawsuits already filed claiming the FTC lacks authority to promulgate such rules. Lobel’s research underscores how a ban on noncompetes will help not only workers but innovation, competition, and economic growth.

About Warren Distinguished Professor of Law Orly Lobel

Orly Lobel is a Professor of Law and the founding director of the Center for Employment and Labor Policy (CELP) at USD School of Law. She is the award-winning author of best-selling books and numerous high-impact articles. A graduate of Tel-Aviv University and Harvard Law School, Professor Lobel clerked on the Israeli Supreme Court and is a member of the American Law Institute. She was named as one of the most cited legal scholars in law and technology and in employment law and, overall, one of the most cited younger legal scholars in the United States.

Professor Lobel served on President Obama’s policy team on innovation and labor market competition, and advised the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the American Conference of the United States (ACUS), the Government Accountability Office (GAO) and other federal and state agencies on tech policy. Professor Lobel also consults private tech leaders on competition, human capital, equality, innovation, labor markets and tech policy.

About the University of San Diego School of Law

Each year, USD educates approximately 800 Juris Doctor and graduate law students from throughout the United States and around the world. The law school is best known for its offerings in the areas of business and corporate law, constitutional law, intellectual property, international and comparative law, public interest law and taxation.

USD School of Law is one of the 84 law schools elected to the Order of the Coif, a national honor society for law school graduates. The law school’s faculty is a strong group of outstanding scholars and teachers with national and international reputations and currently ranks 30th nationally among U.S. law faculties in scholarly impact and 41st nationally in past-year faculty downloads on the Social Sciences Research Network (SSRN). The school is accredited by the American Bar Association and is a member of the Association of American Law Schools. Founded in 1954, the law school is part of the University of San Diego, a private, independent, Roman Catholic university chartered in 1949.