c/agency-legal

Got a cease and desist from a client's old agency for using a similar tagline

Three months ago, we signed a new client in the home services space. We wrote them a fresh brand guide, including a new tagline we thought was solid. Fast forward to last Tuesday, I opened my email to a legal letter from a firm representing the client's previous agency. They claimed our tagline, 'Solutions Built for Home,' was too close to their old one, 'Home Solutions Built.' The client never mentioned this old tagline existed. We spent the next two days with our lawyer going over the old contract and the client's asset transfer. Turns out the old agency still had a claim on some intellectual property because the client left before their contract term was up. Has anyone else had a client's past agency agreements come back to bite them like this? How do you vet for these hidden IP traps now?

My client's contract didn't have a kill fee clause and a project got canceled after 80 hours of work.

It happened last month when a client pulled out after we'd already started the campaign build. Has anyone else had to add specific cancellation terms after getting burned?

Vent: My old boss insisted we didn't need client contracts for projects under $5k...

A client refused to pay for a completed website last month, and we had zero legal standing to push back. Has anyone else gotten burned by skipping formal agreements on smaller jobs?

Walked past that new law firm on Main Street and their window sign is a mess

The sign for 'Carter & Reed, LLC' has the 'LLC' in tiny font you can barely see from the sidewalk. It made me think, if an agency can't get its own basic legal name right in public, how careful are they with client contracts? I saw a similar issue with a digital shop's website terms last month. Do you think clients even notice this stuff, or is it just us who care?

My lawyer friend in Chicago said to always get a signed SOW amendment before adding any scope, and a client just tried to bill us for 'assumed' extra work.

We dodged a $15k invoice because we had the email chain and the initial contract language to back us up. Anyone else have a client try to pull a fast one like that?

Just realized my agency's client onboarding was a liability after a meeting in Austin

We didn't have a signed SOW before starting work, and the client tried to add major scope without paying. Now we use a simple template from Docracy before any project kicks off. Anyone else have a go-to contract clause for scope creep?

Spent $400 on a proper LLC setup and it saved me from a real mess last month

I used to run my small marketing agency as a sole proprietor for years, thinking the legal stuff was just extra paperwork. Last fall, I finally bit the bullet and paid a local lawyer about $400 to set up an LLC and draft a basic operating agreement. I thought it was a lot for some forms, but it turned out to be the best money I've spent. A client I'd worked with for six months suddenly refused to pay their final $2,000 invoice, claiming the work wasn't up to their standards. Because the LLC was in place, their dispute was with the company, not me personally. My lawyer sent a single letter on the company letterhead, and they paid up within a week. It completely shielded my personal savings and my house from any risk. Has anyone else had a similar situation where a simple legal step saved them from a bigger problem?

Pro tip: a messy client folder in a Phoenix coffee shop taught me about file retention

Was sorting through a box of old client paperwork at a table in the back. Found a signed contract from 2012 for a project that had a dispute pop up last year. Having that physical copy saved us because their digital records were corrupted. How long do you all actually keep old client files now?

I finally asked a lawyer about client contract language at a local meetup

He told me to always specify 'work for hire' in writing, not just assume it's implied. Has anyone else had a client claim ownership of work because your agreement wasn't clear enough?

Rant: I keep seeing agencies use the same boilerplate MSA for every client in every state.

After reviewing a contract from a Florida-based client last month that completely missed their specific data privacy obligations, I realized how many agencies just copy-paste a template without checking local laws, which is a huge liability, right?

Update: I used to think client contracts were just a formality

I was at a coffee shop in Denver last month talking to another agency owner, and she told me about a client who tried to sue her for $15,000 over a scope creep issue. Her detailed contract saved her because it listed every single deliverable. I always thought a simple agreement was enough, but now I'm redoing all of mine. How detailed do you guys get in your service descriptions?

I used to think a basic LLC was enough for my agency, but a contract review changed my mind.

After a client tried to claim ownership of our process last month, our lawyer showed us where our old agreement was missing key IP language. Has anyone else had to rewrite their main contract after a close call?

I tried using a free online template for a client contract versus having a lawyer draft one from scratch

For my first few agency clients, I used a generic contract I found online for free. It seemed fine until a project went sideways last fall and the client tried to get out of paying for work we had already done. The free template didn't have clear enough terms about kill fees or scope changes. After that, I paid a local lawyer $800 to make a custom contract for my shop. The difference is night and day, especially the part that defines 'deliverables' and what happens if the client wants to stop the project early. Has anyone else had a bad experience with a free template that made them switch to a real legal document?

TIL a client contract I wrote for a $15k project had a huge loophole after a lawyer friend in Chicago pointed it out over coffee.

I used to copy old boilerplate from past deals, but now I pay for a proper contract review service for any job over five grand because that loophole could have cost me the whole fee.

My old client contract was a mess, so I rewrote it after a bad week in 2022.

I used to use a 3-page contract I found online for free, and it bit me when a client in Austin refused to pay for extra revisions. Now I have a 12-page one my lawyer wrote, with clear scope, kill fees, and a payment schedule. It feels heavy, but I sleep better. Has anyone else made a big switch like that after getting burned?

Our agency's client contract review time went from 14 days to 2 days after one change.

We used to send the full 30-page agreement to every new client for review, and it always took forever. About six months ago, we started sending a simple one-page summary of the key terms first, like payment schedules and termination rights. The client reads that, we talk it over, and only then do we send the full legal doc for final sign-off. The turnaround time dropped like a rock. I think it's because the summary is less scary and gets everyone on the same page faster. Has your firm tried something similar to speed up the initial review stage?

I just found out our client contracts had a huge gap in them for two years

We were using a template from our old firm that said we owned all work product, but a client in Chicago asked for a change last week and I realized it didn't cover source files or third-party assets at all. Has anyone else had to fix this and what did you add to close the loop?

My accountant said to just use a generic NDA for all our client work

We got burned on a $15k project because it didn't cover the specific IP we were developing. Anyone have a good template for creative agencies?

My client's contract had a vague 'scope creep' clause that blew up last month

I was working with a new client on a standard website build, and the contract had this line about 'additional work subject to separate agreement.' It seemed fine until they started asking for extra pages, custom forms, and a blog setup, saying it was all part of the 'core site.' I billed for the extras, and they refused to pay, pointing right at that clause. My lawyer said it was too fuzzy to enforce easily, and I ended up eating about $2,000 in dev time just to avoid a bigger fight. On one hand, I get that tight contracts can scare off clients, but on the other, leaving things open is just asking for trouble. How do you all handle scope definition in your service agreements to keep things clear without being too rigid?

Tried drafting a client contract myself versus using a template from my state bar, big mistake!

I had a new client in Austin and thought I could save $300 by writing the agreement myself instead of buying the official template. The client tried to argue the payment terms were 'unclear' and almost walked, but the bar template had a specific clause that shut it down immediately. Has anyone else had a simple template save a deal from falling apart?

A client's old contract almost cost us a project in Austin

We were about to start a big web design project for a new client in Austin. During our final review, I found a clause in their old agency contract that said they owned all the code from any past work, even unused parts. Our new agreement said we owned our base templates. The client's lawyer pointed this out and said it could stop the project. I had to call the client directly to explain the conflict. We spent a full day rewriting our contract to clearly separate our framework from their old assets. It pushed our start date back a week, but we kept the job. Has anyone else had to untangle ownership rights from a client's previous agency deal?

Appreciation post: A client's boilerplate clause saved us from a huge scope creep fight

Their old contract from a Phoenix firm had a single line limiting 'reasonable revisions' to three rounds. We pointed to it when they asked for a complete redesign after sign-off, and it actually held up. What's the most bulletproof clause you've ever seen in a client agreement?

Serious question, I finally billed over $200k in a single quarter and now I'm staring at a tax bill that feels like a gut punch.

I've been running my own agency for about three years and just hit that revenue number for the first time, which was a huge goal. My accountant just called to give me the estimate for my quarterly payment, and the amount is way bigger than I ever planned for. How do you guys handle the cash flow shock when a big win suddenly means a big check to the IRS?

Vent: I was writing client contracts in plain text files for almost a year before a lawyer friend saw one and just said 'You're not protected at all.'

Our agency hit 50 client contracts in a month and I think that's a problem

Everyone on here talks about growth like it's always good, but we just signed our 50th client contract this month and our legal review process is breaking. We're a team of two lawyers for the whole agency, and last week we missed a major indemnity clause in a deal because we were rushing. The client is in Texas and their standard terms had a sneaky 5-year liability window we usually cap at two. I'm worried that chasing big numbers is making us sloppy. Has anyone else had to slow down signing new deals just to keep the legal work solid?