Consultancy is provided by a vast range of businesses, from large international companies to sole traders, with the type of work undertaken varying greatly, even in the same sectors. Net Lawman consultancy agreements include comprehensive contracts between companies and simpler ones for individual professionals. All our documents are written in modern language and can be tailored easily to favour the interests of the consultant or their client.
Consultancy agreements
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Templates
Consultancy contract: client version
This consultancy contract is for use by any business looking to take on a consultant. There is great advantage in presenting your own contract, drawn to protect your interests. The contract is suitable for any size or type of consultant. Drawn for a corporate consultancy, you could edit to take on a one-man band. It is an umbrella version suitable for either a single instruction, or for multiple or continuing assignments. It is drawn to be acceptable to a consultant but strongly protects the client.
Corporate consultancy agreement
1 review
This contract is for use by a corporate consultancy working with large or small clients on any work. It is an umbrella version suitable for either a single instruction, or for multiple or continuing assignments. Option for accountants or others working for bank client too. It is drawn to be acceptable to a client but strongly protects the consultancy.
Consultant contract: individual in any field
2 reviews
This contract is for use by an individual consultant working with large or small clients on any work. It is an umbrella version suitable for either a single instruction, or for multiple or continuing assignments. Assists in establishing your status as a consultant for tax purposes. It is drawn to be acceptable to a client but strongly protects the consultant.
Consultant contract: individual in any field: short version
3 reviews
This consultant contract is for use by an individual consultant working with large or small clients on any work. It is a short version drawn primarily to protect you, the consultant. It is intended for situations where your work or your clients make it difficult or inappropriate to propose a long form contract. Use too, when the consultancy work is likely to be continuous over a period of time but where you do not wish to be an employee. It is drawn to be acceptable to a client but strongly protects the consultant.
Corporate IT consultancy agreement
This IT contract is for use by a corporate IT consultancy working with large or small clients on any work with a substantial intellectual property, scientific or high technology content. It is an umbrella version suitable for either a single instruction, or for multiple or continuing assignments. It is drawn to be acceptable to a client but strongly protects the consultancy. Provides full and binding legal provision in all the areas you need.
IT consultant contract
This contract is for use by an individual IT consultant working with large or small clients on any work. It is an umbrella version suitable for either a single instruction, or for multiple or continuing assignments. Assists in establishing your status as a consultant for tax purposes. It is drawn to be acceptable to a client but strongly protects the consultant.
IT consultancy contract: client version
This IT consultancy contract is for use by any business looking to take on an IT consultant. There is great advantage in presenting your own contract, drawn to protect your interests. The contract is suitable for any size or type of consultant. Drawn for a corporate consultancy, you could edit to take on a one-man band. It is an umbrella version suitable for either a single instruction, or for multiple or continuing assignments. It is drawn to be acceptable to a consultant but strongly protects the client. Provides full and binding legal provision in all the areas you need.
Inter group company consulting agreement
This inters group company consultancy contract is for use by a group of companies wishing lawfully to allocate the cost of consultancy work to the appropriate group member. It can be used to formalise an existing arrangement, allocate expenses where they should fall, or to separate out the affairs of a subsidiary in preparation for its sale or the introduction of a third party shareholder. The nature of the consultancy work is not material.
Subcontractor consulting agreement
This agreement is for use by any business looking to sub-contract consultancy work. The agreement is drawn assuming you are sub-contracting to an individual, but you can edit easily to take on a company. Use it for a one-off assignment or for a consultant you wish to use repeatedly or continuously. It is an umbrella version suitable for either a single instruction, or for multiple assignments.
Corporate HR consultancy agreement
This HR contract is for use by a corporate HR consultancy working with large or small clients on any work related to recruitment, employment or personnel issues. It is an umbrella version suitable for either a single instruction, or for multiple or continuing assignments. It is drawn to be acceptable to a client but strongly protects the consultancy. Provides full and binding legal provision in all the areas you need.
HR consultant contract
This contract is for use by an individual HR consultant working with large or small clients on any work related to human resources management. It is an umbrella version suitable for either a single instruction, or for multiple or continuing assignments. Assists in establishing your status as a consultant for tax purposes. It is drawn to be acceptable to a client but strongly protects the consultant. Provides full and binding legal provision in all the areas you need.
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Written in plain English
We avoid legal terminology unless necessary. Plain English makes our documents easy to understand, easy to edit and more likely to be accepted.
Guidance notes included
You don’t need legal knowledge to use our documents. We explain what to edit and how in the guidance notes included at the end of the document.
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We offer free support by email in respect of editing the document. You can also use our Document Review Service if you want to our legal team to check that the document will do as you intend.
Up to date with the latest law
Our documents comply with the latest relevant law. Our lawyers regularly review how new law affects each document in our library.
About these consultancy agreements
These are comprehensive legal documents that cover the commercial and practical points that will be important to both the consultant and his or her client.
Although written in plain English, the concepts are deep and the documents are thorough. Using one of these templates will enhance your brand as a professional and well organised business, as well as protecting your intellectual property and helping each piece of work undertaken to progress smoothly.
Our contracts are tailored for three types of users:
- for corporate consultancy (the consultancy company could employ multiple employees, or simply be a structure through which an individual works)
- for a single self-employed consultant working alone or with colleagues or sub-contractors
- for the client company or business
The documents for the consultants emphasise the legal structure through which the work will take place. For example, the versions for self-employed consultants emphasise the independence of the contractor for tax purposes.
The versions for the client favour their own interests more strongly than alternative versions.
We also offer variants for contractors in the IT and HR industries.
The majority of each agreement for a certain type of user is the same regardless of the industry because the main subject of the contract is how the work is performed, not what the work involves.
Where the contracts for specific industries differ is largely in the even heavier coverage of intellectual property and confidentiality, which are more likely to be important in those industries.
What is in these agreements
It will not help you to list every detail, but here are some of the important provisions covered by each document. Bear in mind that no agreement contains unnecessary provisions.
- Contract summary and payment options
- Work management procedure
- Consultant's obligations
- Option for the use of sub-contractors
- Confidentiality
- Ownership of intellectual property created by the consultant
- Data protection
- Option for no competition
- Limitation of your liability
- Duration and termination
You will probably be fully aware of why each provision is necessary, but just in case you need help, each document comes with very extensive explanations and advice contained in the drafting notes as well as a separate guide to editing legal document templates.
Additionally, to help you to avoid having to consider exact words, each template provides options - you just select which option you want to preserve and delete the others. This applies in particular to payment systems and working arrangements.
Protection of intellectual property
In the course of any business relationship much of confidential information is shared. Both the client company and the consultant have interests in making sure that any third party obtains it.
That confidential information may be strategic, such as future plans for expansion, or it may be intellectual property created during the assignment.
The structure and the contents of these contracts reflect the latest thinking on what is needed to balance the protection of the client business from theft of its intellectual property while ensuring that IP belonging to the consultant can be used elsewhere.
Legal requirements for personal data protection under the Data Protection Act 2018 are, of course, included.
Other matters
An umbrella agreement
In our contracts, we keep the description of the services provided separate to the legal clauses.
In structuring the agreement in such a way, distinguishing the deliverables is much easier and the agreement becomes an 'umbrella contract' ready set up for the possibility of future assignments under the same terms.
All later assignments of work become automatically subject to the terms of your original contract unless you agree to a new one.
All that is needed for any subsequent assignment is a description of the work to be carried out and a reference to the agreement.
Treat as your standard contract or negotiate terms
Of course, you can either edit an agreement and use it as your standard terms, or you can negotiate the detail of each individual project.
The importance of a good specification of work
We cannot over-emphasise the importance of a thorough and agreed specification of work. The agreement you will choose will reduce the chance of conflict on the operation of the agreement and the application of the law, but only you can describe the work in detail.
The contracts provide for the specification of work to be placed in a schedule to the agreement the first time it is used.
The law relating to this agreement
The governing law in all these consultancy agreements is Irish Law.
There is little statute law relating to the provision of consultancy services so the framework for the contracts depends on basic contract law and tort.
What customers thought
Conor O Callaghan
Very convenient way to get a complex document sorted for your business.
David McLoughlin
Just what I was looking for. Straight-forward to-the-point document.
David McLoughlin
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