In an article for the Daily Journal, Glenn Agre partners Edward Shapiro and Joseph Gallagher and associate Jewel Tewiah examine why executive exits are no longer solely an HR matter.

New CEO appointments among S&P 1500 companies hit their highest level in 15 years in 2025, while average CEO tenure continues to shrink. Surveys of senior leadership suggest a majority may be weighing an exit within two years, with 27% saying they are likely to leave in the next six months. Meanwhile, the legal landscape governing what companies can do to protect themselves is tightening, not loosening. California, in particular, has continued to narrow the enforceability of non-competes and confidentiality provisions, creating new private rights of action and scrutinizing even indirect restraints on employee mobility.

Why This Matters to Boards, Investors, and Executives Alike

At Glenn Agre Bergman & Fuentes, we regularly advise on both sides of this equation — companies seeking to safeguard trade secrets, customer relationships, and institutional knowledge, and executives navigating the restrictions placed on their careers. That dual perspective is not incidental to our practice; it’s central to how we advise clients. We know how these disputes are actually litigated, because we’ve represented clients on both sides of them. That means the agreements, playbooks, and succession plans we help build are stress-tested against real adversarial scrutiny and practical business needs, not just drafted to look defensible or to give one side an “edge” that could ultimately backfire in court.

What Sophisticated Companies Are Doing Now

Rather than waiting for a departure to become a crisis, sophisticated companies are focusing on:

  • Succession planning that treats key-person risk as a governance issue
  • Clear, commercially reasonable employment agreements that set expectations for all parties and are built to withstand legal challenge
  • Documented institutional knowledge and redundancy, reducing the risk that critical information walks out with any one individual
  • Proactive communication with boards and investors, so departures are managed events rather than surprises

Executive departures, like most corporate crises, are manageable with the right preparation. The businesses who plan ahead are the ones who weather them with minimal market, media, or courtroom consequences.

Read the full article, published in the Daily Journal, here.