Rule 5.6 Restrictions On Right To Practice

Lawyers and law firms cannot make deals that stop a lawyer from practicing law after they leave a job or a partnership. For example, a law firm cannot make an employee sign a contract saying they won't work as a lawyer in the same city if they quit. The only exception is a retirement agreement, where a firm can offer retirement benefits that are tied to a lawyer stepping back from practice.

Lawyers also cannot agree to limit their own right to practice law as part of settling a case for a client. So if a lawyer is negotiating a settlement, they can't offer to stop representing clients against the other side in the future just to close the deal. This protects clients' ability to choose any lawyer they want, without lawyers making side deals that reduce competition or limit who can represent people.

There is one exception to these rules. If a lawyer is selling their entire law practice to another lawyer, under Rule 1.17, that sale agreement can include some limits on the seller's right to practice law afterward. This makes sense because selling a practice usually means the seller is stepping away from that work entirely.