Also you need to pay attention to any clause that speaks directly to working for a current client of the consulting firm, rather than a general NCA that talks about a certain distance or time period. Many times they will add that in also. And it can be more enforceable than the general provision if there are other places of employment within the area.

There is also a chance that the client had to sign a different agreement that stated they would not "hire away" any consultants that came from the consulting firm. This is especially true in the IT arena.

I agree with CBG that the best thing you can do is to take the agreement to a local employment attorney.

{DH successfully negotiated his way out of both agreements going from an IT consulting firm to a client, but the client company paid (1) a recruiting fee of about 3 months salary to the consulting firm and (2) guaranteed $xxxK in billable work over the next y months. And it took 3-4 months of negotiation to get there. So another question would the client company fight that hard to get you?}