And many firms just don&#x27;t want to deal with the potential hassle&#x2F;exposure of hiring someone who has a non-compete that could potentially come into play.<p>In a former role, one or two of the larger firms in the space were known for having non-competes they were known for trying to enforce that basically said that if someone left--even if they were laid off--they couldn&#x27;t do the same type of job for a year. Someone I know who left one of those firms just took a year off before going out on their own. The firm I was at wouldn&#x27;t even think of touching someone to  whom those non-competes applied.