By Amanda Leon, founder of OilMoney.io. Houston-raised, came up in the Houston marketing team of Vallourec, and has run Unrth, a brand and growth studio for oil and gas and industrial companies, since 2017, with her boots on client locations in Midland and Odessa. Last reviewed November 5, 2026.
A non-solicitation clause limits you from going after your old employer's customers, and often its employees, after you leave. Unlike a non-compete, it usually doesn't stop you from working for a competitor. In Texas, the state Supreme Court treats limits on soliciting customers and employees as restraints on trade governed by the same statute as non-competes. For a rep, the words to read closely are "solicit" and "accept," and how the clause defines who counts as a customer.
This page explains public law in plain words. It is not legal advice, and I'm not a lawyer. Your agreement's exact words matter, so have a lawyer in your state read it before you act on it.
How It Differs From a Non-Compete
A non-compete limits where you can work or what work you can do, for a set time and area.
A customer non-solicit limits who you can go after for business, whoever you work for.
An employee non-solicit limits recruiting your old coworkers away.
Many agreements have more than one of these, and they can run for different lengths of time. If yours has a non-compete too, read Texas non-compete law for oilfield sales reps as well.
What Texas Law Says
In Marsh USA Inc. v. Cook, the Supreme Court of Texas wrote that covenants that limit former employees' professional mobility, or restrict their solicitation of the former employer's customers and employees, are restraints on trade governed by the state's covenants act. So the Section 15.50 test applies: the clause has to be part of an otherwise enforceable agreement, with limits on time, area, and scope of activity that are reasonable and no greater than necessary to protect a business interest such as goodwill.
The covenant in that case is a useful example of how far these clauses can reach. For two years after leaving, the employee agreed not to solicit or accept business from clients and prospects he had solicited or serviced directly, or whose solicitation or service he had supervised, and not to solicit certain employees who reported to him. Note the word "accept." It reached business he didn't go out and ask for.
Read These Words in Yours
Solicit, or solicit or accept? If you may not accept the business, a customer who calls you first may still be off limits. If the clause says only "solicit," who contacted whom can matter. Ask your lawyer which you have.
Which customers? Everyone the company serves, or only the accounts you handled or supervised? Does it reach prospects you only called on? How far back does it look?
How long? One year and two years are very different in a business with long sales cycles.
Does it name your contacts? Some clauses go after the person at the customer, some the company. If your contact changes operators, ask how the clause treats that.
Does it mention social media? An employer that wants to reach LinkedIn activity can write it in. Look for it.
Where LinkedIn Fits
Courts have split on the facts, and the two best-known cases show why. Neither is from Texas, and our search didn't turn up a Texas ruling squarely on point, so treat them as a guide to how judges think about it, not as Texas law.
Generic activity was fine. In Bankers Life v. American Senior Benefits (Illinois Appellate Court, 2017), a former employee sent LinkedIn connection requests to old coworkers. The court found no violation. The invitations were generic, didn't mention either employer, and didn't urge anyone to look at a job posting.
A sales pitch wasn't. In Mobile Mini v. Vevea (federal court in Minnesota, 2017), a rep posted that she had joined a competitor, praised it, and invited contacts to call for a quote. The court treated those posts as sales pitches aimed at her network, which included her old employer's customers.
The pattern across those two: both courts looked at what the message actually said. Updating your job title and posting about your work reads differently from a post telling your old customers to call you for a quote. If you're under a clause, that's the line to talk through with your lawyer before you post about the move.
How to Leave Clean
Get the agreement read first. Do this before you give notice.
Leave the files. Customer lists, pricing, and call notes can raise separate problems. Don't forward them to yourself.
Don't announce your move with an offer. Keep any job-change post to the facts until your lawyer has weighed in.
Decide what you'll say if a customer calls. If your clause bars accepting the business, you need that answer ready before the phone rings.
Keep your old network out of your new company's outreach. Don't let your new employer's marketing list quietly do what you've agreed not to do. Check that with your lawyer too.
Why Your Name Matters Before You Ever Leave
A clause can limit what you do after you go. The time to build a reputation that belongs to you is years earlier, while nobody is arguing about anything. Explain how the work gets done, share what you've learned on location, and post under your own name. People who've read you for years know who you are without you having to send them a thing. We cover the sales side in will your customers follow you to a new oilfield service company? and the supply side in changing distributors as a PVF rep. If you want to see what a buyer finds when they look you up today, get your Bison Walk-Around.
Sources and As-Of Dates
Marsh USA Inc. v. Cook, Supreme Court of Texas, No. 09-0558, opinion delivered June 24, 2011: the covenant's wording and the treatment of solicitation limits.
Texas Business and Commerce Code, Section 15.50, read November 5, 2026.
Eric Goldman, on Bankers Life and Casualty Co. v. American Senior Benefits LLC, 2017 IL App (1st) 160687, read November 5, 2026.
Butler Snow, A Tale of Two Cases: LinkedIn Postings as Solicitations, February 2018, on Bankers Life and Mobile Mini v. Vevea, read November 5, 2026.
The Warm Walk-In™ is an original method created by Amanda Leon and owned by The Valours Creative Innovation LLC.
