The client sends the consulting renewal. Or a hiring company sends an external offer letter.

Somewhere in the packet is a noncompete.

You sign this quarter. In Washington, a new law is set to void nearly all noncompetes on June 30, 2027.

Those two dates do not cancel each other. The signing date comes first.

A noncompete is not boilerplate. It is the buyer purchasing part of your future market. Named buyers. Whole sectors. A set number of months.

Translation: the clause is a purchase. The mistake is signing it before you know what it removes.

The record on Washington

Faegre Drinker reported on April 7, 2026 that Washington's Engrossed Substitute House Bill 1155 was signed March 23, 2026.

The ban takes effect June 30, 2027. On that date, nearly all noncompetes in Washington become void. An Arnold & Porter advisory dated October 5, 2026 says that includes ones already signed.

Faegre Drinker reported on April 7, 2026 that the law reaches independent contractors as well as employees.

This post covers Washington only. Whether a clause holds, and how the law reaches your agreement, are questions for counsel.

A clause that removes part of your future market can be handed over at no price. Indignation at that mechanism is accurate. Keep it cold and put it to work on the packet before the signing date.

Mistake 1: Reading only the main agreement

The mistake. You read the renewal's main terms. You sign the rest.

What it costs. The same advisory says Washington's definition reaches offer letters, incentive plans, equity agreements, and separation agreements. A restriction can sit in any of them.

The correction. Read every document in the signing packet. Mark each restrictive term by document and section.

See the difference? The agreement is one document. The terms you sign are the whole packet.

Mistake 2: Treating the 2027 date as the answer

The mistake. "It's going to be void anyway."

What it costs. You sign this quarter. The ban takes effect June 30, 2027. The months between those dates are months the clause was written to cover.

The correction. Write the effective date beside the signing date. Read the clause as written. Ask counsel what applies before June 30, 2027.

Mistake 3: Treating the clause as boilerplate

The mistake. "It's standard language."

What it costs. The buyers and the work it bars. For its whole duration.

The correction. List what the clause bars. By buyer type. By sector. By geography. By months.

Translation: "standard" describes how often a term appears. It does not describe its price.

Mistake 4: Signing with no record of what it removes

The mistake. You find the clause. You sign it without setting it beside the work you sell.

What it costs. You learn what it removed when a barred buyer asks for a proposal. By then the term is signed.

The correction. Set your list beside the record of work you have sold. Buyer type. Date last sold. Where the receipt lives.

Now the restriction is a stated term in the renewal discussion. Not a surprise after it.

"Bringing it up will lose the client." A term listed before the signing date is a term on the table. It is not a demand.

None of this is a personal failing. Nobody teaches it. Open the packet before the signing date.

What it looks like on paper

This is an illustration, not a client.

A consultant's renewal carries a 12-month noncompete across "competing firms."

Before:

Section 9: noncompete, 12 months, "competing firms"
Status: signed as standard language

After:

Section 9: noncompete, 12 months, "competing firms"
Buyer types it bars: health systems, regional insurers,
benefits administrators
Sectors it bars: health care, insurance
Each line: date last sold, where the receipt lives
Question for counsel: one line

Same clause. Different signing. The first hands over three buyer types and two sectors without a word. The second puts them on the table before the date.

Translation: an unlisted restriction is market given away. A listed one is a term.

Your template

Copy this. Fill it in before the signing date.

RESTRICTIVE TERMS RECORD
Counterparty (the person who signs): ____________
Document type (renewal / offer letter /
incentive or equity terms attached to it): ________
Signing date: ____________
State whose law the agreement names: ____________

Restrictive term 1
Where it appears (document, section): ____________
What it bars (buyers, sectors, geography): ________
Duration in months: ________
Work from my record it would bar:
  Buyer type: ____________
  Date last sold: ____________
  Where the receipt lives: ____________

Restrictive term 2
Where it appears (document, section): ____________
What it bars (buyers, sectors, geography): ________
Duration in months: ________
Work from my record it would bar:
  Buyer type: ____________
  Date last sold: ____________
  Where the receipt lives: ____________

Question for counsel (one line): ________________

What the record does not do

This list shows what the clause removes from your market.

It does not say what that removal costs you in dollars, or whether the fee covers it.

That number comes only from valuing the documented record of the work the clause would bar.

Before you sign the client's renewal this quarter, know what the noncompete removes. Have the record valued before the clause goes in at no price.