An Illinois non-disclosure agreement (NDA) is a legal contract that safeguards confidential information shared between parties. This confidentiality agreement prevents the receiving party from using the disclosed information without permission, in compliance with Illinois state law.
You cannot sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) with yourself because an NDA is a contract between two or more parties. However, you can create a similar document for personal or organizational use to protect sensitive information, but it wouldn't be a typical NDA since there's no distinct second party involved.
You don't need a lawyer to create the agreement, but you may need someone with legal expertise to review it. We recommend consulting with a legal expert to ensure your agreement fully protects your organisation's interests when the document is first created.
NDAs with employees are generally legal in Illinois. However, there are certain limits employers need to be aware of, and several best practices that will help ensure your agreement is immune from challenge in court.
With all of that said, if you still feel it's worth getting people to sign an NDA, there's a really great way to ask someone politely to do it. Say this: "In the interest of maintaining good governance with future investors, we're asking that anyone closely involved with this project at this early stage sign an NDA."
Nearly 20 states have passed laws restricting their use in dealing with sexual misconduct in the workplace, including Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Illinois, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington.
NDAs that prevent people from speaking about any of these acts usually do not hold up in court, even if they are otherwise valid. Similarly, California courts will not enforce an NDA if the information it seeks to protect is already known to the public or is illegal in nature.
(a) No employer shall enter into a covenant not to compete with any employee unless the employee's actual or expected annualized rate of earnings exceeds $75,000 per year.
You do not need a lawyer to create and sign a non-disclosure agreement. However, if the information you are trying to protect is important enough to warrant an NDA, you may want to have the document reviewed by someone with legal expertise.