First, the state's statute is extremely clearly worded. The amount of judicial activism required for me not to win some substantial monetary damages -- at least a multiple of garden leave -- would go far beyond taking a pencil to the contract; it would require substantially rewriting plainly worded statute itself. That's not a blue pencil; it's a sledgehammer to the constitution.

Second, I'm in an "equitably" state. A core claim of the counter-suit would be that I'm been deprived of a low-8-figure compensation package due to litigation. Lawsuits take years. No blue pencil can "reset" the contract to an equitable state without first evaluating that counter-claim. That's the point of the counter-suit, btw. I don't need the fucking money.

Anyways, given the composition of our judiciary, I think all of my previous and existing employers lack the balls to risk the precedent we'd be working to establish. Especially since, in order to establish that precedent, I'd settle for a Pyrrhic victory. (I have shitloads of cash, live a monk's life, and will burn the world down to kill non-competes. Corporations are hyper-rational sociopaths, and if you're going to work for one you need to play the game theory accordingly.)

That said...

1. IANAL.

2. I have a lawyer but my lawyer is not your lawyer.

3. Get a lawyer to review anything you sign, before signing.