Debbie Berman Image

Debbie Berman

is a partner at Jenner and Block. She is a litigator and serves as co-chair of the firm’s Trade Secrets and Restrictive Covenants practice, as well as co-chair of the Media and First Amendment practice. She focuses on complex commercial matters involving challenging situations for her clients, such as when a deal or business relationship has gone bad. Media companies also rely on her for help to defend defamation and First Amendment-related tort cases. She also assists companies with substantial trade secrets and unfair competition matters.

Recent Articles by Debbie Berman

Employment Agreements: Employers Need To Pay Attention to Growing Government Activism

In the past, employers typically only needed to be concerned that confidentiality and non-compete clauses in their employment agreements may be challenged either by departing employees who want to work for a competitor or by a competing company attempting to hire an employee or former employee. That tide is changing as an increasing level of government scrutiny has been directed at these employee restrictive covenants. Recently, federal and state agencies have been challenging the enforceability of confidentiality provisions and non-competes that the agencies claim are not supported by legitimate business interests. Given this change-in-tide and the New Year, now is the perfect time for employers to engage counsel to review their confidentiality and non-compete provisions.