Independent Research Task

Like all legal skills, legal research is best learned by practice. Our librarians will provide an introduction to the types of legal research sources and tools. To understand the sources, tools, and methods, you need practice. The philosophy of this project is that it will be more interesting for you to research a topic of your choosing, so the assignment asks you to choose a topic, research the topic, and write the report. To write the memo style question presented identifying the legal issue, the rule of law, and facts that involve the legal issue. (1) Come up with a topic that interests you. You might try writing in a stream of consciousness manner until you have identified a topic of interest. You will spend a fair amount of time with this topic, so choose wisely. Most importantly, you should pick a topic that matters to you. Follow your interest. If you like art, maybe you can find an intellectual property topic on protecting artists' rights. If you know someone with a child custody issue, maybe you want to explore family law. You may choose from the general subject areas listed at the end of this document. (See Appendix.) The subtopics below each heading are illustrative, only. You are not limited to the listed sub-topics. (2) Some suggestions for workable topics: Choose a topic that arises from particular facts and is set in a particular jurisdiction (whether it would be governed by the law of a particular state or federal law). I ask that you avoid the law of foreign countries, because the purpose of the exercise is to learn to use United States legal research tools. Please note that research on regulated fields, such as securities, environmental law, labor law, agriculture, and tax add an additional layer of complication (and additional resources) so beware if you decide to take such a topic on. The factual setting probably will be a hypothetical problem but do try to identify some key facts that your situation includes. Please see the Appendix at the end of this document for suggested topic areas.

The attachment is a Sample.

INDEPENDENT RESEARCH PROJECT FICTIONAL BACKGROUND The employer is a company based in New York, which focuses on a niche targeting market in the industry. There are very few players in this industry across the country, and the company is one of them. The employee is the top sales manager of the company who holds the list of big customers and has established good personal relationships with those big customers over the years The company knows that it is because of the customers\" close relationships with the employee that they are willing to continue doing business with the company. If the employee joins the competitors with his excellent interpersonal skill and in-depth understanding of the industry, the competitors will soon surpass the company in prots Thus, the company signed a non-compete agreement with the employee, with a reasonable restriction period but with no geographical limitation. ISSUE Under the law of New York State, whether an employee with extraordinary ability is bound by a non-compete agreement, which precludes the employee from working in their eld of expertise with no geographical limitation? DISCUSSION In New York State, if an employer seeks the court's order to enforce a non- compete agreement, the agreement will be closely examined to see if it established certain requirements Am. Broad. Companies, Inc. v. Wolf, 52 N.Y.2d 394, 403, 420 N.E.2d 363, 367 (1981). The court will decide whether a non-compete agreement is enforceable by observing if it is \"necessary to protect the trade secrets, customer lists or good will of the employer's business, or perhaps when the employer is exposed to special harm because of the unique nature of the employee's services\"1di Even if the agreement is valid, the court may choose not to enforce it \"if it is unreasonable in time, space or scope or would operate in a harsh or oppressive manner\" 1d, That is to say that the court tends to \"[give] greater weight to the interests of the employer in restricting competition within a confined geographical area.\" BDO Seidman v. Hirsnberg, 93 N.Y.2d 382, 389, 712 N.E.2d 1220, 1223 (1999). In other words, the times that the court would grant an injunctive relief, is when \"an employee's services are unique or extraordinary and the covenant is reasonable,\" Reed, Roberts Assocs., Inc. v. Strauman, 40 NY2d 303, 308, 353 NiE.2d 590, 593 (1976). In this case, the court is not likely to enforce the non-compete agreement between the employee and the company, The employee holds the company's trade secrets, connections with major customers and possesses extraordinary interpersonal skills to win customers\" trust, If the employee devotes their skill and knowledge to serving the company's competitors, it could be harmful to the company's Jture prots. Therefore, the non-compete agreement is necessary for protecting the company's interests However, the company did not set a geographic limitation in the non-compete agreement, which means within the restricted period, the employee cannot work in their familiar industry from anywhere in the world, Without a confined geographical area, the court tends to favor the employee who may have difficulties making a living due to the restrictions. Thus, the court is not likely to enforce the non-compete agreement with unreasonable restrictions, even though the employee's skill set is indeed extraordinary, RESEARCH TIP First, go to secondary sources and find \"New York Jurisprudence.\" Under the category of Employment Relations, search for \"non-compete\" and then search \"geographic\" within results, By doing so, I found my starting case, which can direct me to more authoritative cases, Second, look through the headnotes of the starting case, find the most appropriate \"key number\" on the righthand column, By clicking the correct key, more related cases will pop up. Now, I could narrow them down by filtering the cases by jurisdiction and found the most authoritative cases within the desired jurisdiction]. ' Word Count: 630