Nathan wrote:
I'm guessing there aren't too many folks familiar with United States employment law among the folks debating and speculating on this list. I submit that this is probably not the sort of thing we want determined by a consensus of amateurs. Lots of people don't like ND agreements, but they don't like binding arbitration, non-compete and non-disclosure agreements either. Even so, they are fairly common and effective. As a matter of fact, I think than an ND for the Board is somewhat less unusual than an ND for employees.
Thank you for the calm, measured response. Can I ask, however, that we avoid confusing abbreviations? An ND agreement or NDA normally refers to a non-disclosure agreement (another much-despised yet much-used contract). While such agreements in business relationships sometimes also touch on non-disparagement, they're primarily focused on confidential information, which is a bit different issue.
--Michael Snow