Professor Orly Lobel Quoted in Multiple Publications About FTC’s Proposed Ban on Noncompete Clauses in Worker Contracts

SAN DIEGO (February 1, 2023) – University of San Diego (USD) School of Law Warren Distinguished Professor of Law, Orly Lobel, was recently quoted in USA Today, the Financial Times and Bloomberg Law about the FTC’s proposed ban on noncompete contracts.

In USA Today, Professor Lobel is quoted saying, “The FTC talks about the $300 billion that can be gained by having true competition in the talent market, but it’s really also about gaining better workplaces.”

The Financial Times cites Professor Lobel’s work that demonstrates how “employment clauses traditionally associated with top executives have actually spread across the workforce.” Rather than being confined to contracts for executives, many American workers are “tangled in the thicket” of non-disclosure agreements, non-disparagement clauses and non-compete clauses.

Bloomberg Law quotes Professor Lobel’s work that argues that “banning noncompete agreements also benefits businesses by increasing competition for talent in the labor market.” Professor Lobel is quoted as saying that “States that enforce noncompete agreements saw a ‘brain drain’ with qualified workers moving to places where they weren’t enforced.” She was also quoted saying, “A noncompete ban is good policy not only to protect workers, but to have a more competitive economy … We’re not used to thinking about the labor market as a market.”

Read the USA Today article here.

Read the Financial Times article here.

Read the Bloomberg Law article here.

About Warren Distinguished Professor of Law Orly Lobel

Warren Distinguished Professor of Law and University Professor Orly Lobel is the founding director of the Center for Employment and Labor Law.  Lobel is among the most cited legal scholars in the country and has received numerous awards in recent years, including the Thorsnes Prize for Outstanding Legal Scholarship and the Irving Oberman Memorial Award. Her three books have won prestigious awards and have shaped policy debates. Her newest book is titled The Equality Machine: Harnessing Digital Technology for a Brighter, More Inclusive Future.

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 28th 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.