Legal Review and Strengthening of Client Agreement for UK Marketing Agency
Job Description:
We are a UK-based marketing agency seeking a legal professional to review and enhance our client agreement. As a relatively new agency, we aim to ensure our agreement is enforceable, robust, and provides clear protection for our business interests while maintaining transparency and clarity for our clients.
Scope of Work:
Review for General Enforceability:
Ensure the agreement complies with UK law and is enforceable in a wide range of client scenarios. We have international clients.
Strengthening and Tightening:
-Add tighter definitions of non-performance, specifying client obligations and our remedies. -Include clauses to mitigate risks where clients hinder performance (e.g., locking us out of accounts). -Clearly state that the agreement is not performance/success-based, but for service provision.
Add provisions for contract variations mid-agreement, allowing clients to:
-Add new services. -Swap existing services for others of equal value, ensuring fairness and clarity.
Risk Mitigation:
-Protect against risks tied to specific services (e.g., paid ads, SEO, social media). -Include protections against regulatory risks tied to the client’s business. -Address survival of the agreement in cases of corporate events such as takeovers or rebranding.
Data and Privacy Provisions:
-Strengthen data protection and privacy clauses to ensure compliance with GDPR and UK data protection laws. -Clearly outline client responsibilities in providing and protecting data necessary for services. -Add clauses defining our use of client data, including secure handling and deletion protocols.
Consultancy Requirement: Provide guidance on how we, as a business, should approach data and privacy matters both contractually and operationally.
Promotion and Branding Rights:
-Add clauses granting us the right to promote our relationship with clients (e.g., use of logos, case studies, and testimonials). -Include safeguards for client confidentiality, ensuring any promotional use aligns with agreed terms.
Payment and Invoicing Protections:
-Explicitly state that invoices must be contested within 'X' days. -Confirm the ability to enforce a clause that deems invoices uncontested after 7 days as accepted.
Review Break Clause and Notice Periods:
-Ensure the break clause is clear, fair, and enforceable. -Review and strengthen clarity around notice periods, including enforceability if challenged by a client.
Credit Control Playbook:
Draft a credit control playbook for handling different client scenarios (e.g., payment delays, disputes, bad payers).
General Clarity Review:
Ensure the entire agreement is free from ambiguity, with simple, client-friendly language where appropriate, while retaining legal robustness.
Consultancy Needs: In addition to the agreement review, I require guidance on:
-The legal weight I can confidently assert in client communications regarding payment disputes and contractual matters. -Mitigating legal risks exposed by our agreement and addressing recent client pushback (e.g., enforceability of notice periods or break clauses). -Best practices for incorporating strong data and privacy compliance across our business operations. -Other items as they arise.
Deliverables:
-A fully reviewed and updated client agreement. -Clear provisions for mid-agreement variations, break clauses, promotional rights, and data/privacy compliance. -A concise, actionable credit control and contractual dispute playbook. -Written guidance on managing common client challenges and data/privacy compliance from a legal standpoint.
About Us:
We’re a UK-based marketing agency offering global services to the financial sector. As a growing business, we want to ensure our agreements are robust and reflective of best practices to protect both our interests and those of our clients.
Budget and Timeline:
Please provide your estimated fee and timeframe for completing this work.