Show HN: Crowdsourced freelance contract template, written in plain language

I like this. Maybe make the Github repo available for people to make pull requests and issues and such? That would make it much more 'crowdsourced' imo.

The freelance community is really missing some good open source / legit free software and resources, I hope more things like this pop up.

I love the idea behind this - so many contracts are unnecessarily impossible to read.

However, I am going to be really honest - as the CTO of a company who regularly hires freelancers and as a former lawyer, I would never sign this contract if the freelancer I was using sent it to me.

Section 2.1 is much too weak and will give the hiring company problems if they were undergoing diligence for an equity round. Please consult any IP lawyer if you doubt me.

Less of an issue but section 1.4 also does not restrict the nature and amount of expenses.

We'd love your help improving this - would you mind sending an email to contribute@theplaincontract.com?

You can also create an Issue or submit a PR on GitHub if you would like to contribute directly: https://github.com/jackmorgan/the-plain-contract/

Is this being shared with a view to getting more contributors or is it being shared with a view to it actually being used at the moment? If the latter, I would have serious reservations if someone put this in front of me and asked me to sign, whether from a client or contractor perspective. If you're going to ask the client to use their time to read this, it's good to present something which isn't so one-sided in favour of the contractor. They'll probably just send over their standard form and get you to sign. Instead you could present something balanced which a client might actually be inclined to enter into.

IP rights: All rights are assigned. Most projects will be more nuanced than this in terms of IP split, both in terms of pre-existing IP and third party/open source IP. Both these are ignored. I would expect there to be more nuance around this. This may give more comfort both to the client and the contractor in terms of knowing what they are getting, and what they are handing over respectively. Also, no mention of moral rights, which you would usually expect to see waived, or at reference to copyleft restrictions.

End dates: This provides an absolute commitment to deliver work by a certain date. I don't think this is advisable from a contractor's perspective. At the very least it should be made subject to timely receipt of client inputs.

Non-solicit: Plain English seems broader than a standard non-solicit. Usually a standard non-solicit would link to employment by the solicited person by the soliciting entity or solicitation being for the benefit of the soliciting party. This just states any action to encourage someone to leave is a breach. Also, it's more normal for this to be reversed so that the client is restricted from soliciting employees of the contractor (obviously not as relevant in a single freelancer scenario though).

Term and termination: Sure, flexibility over termination is a good thing (because if it's not working, it's not working), but giving the contractor the right to terminate on 7 days' notice is likely going to lead to objections from the client, when in most cases the contractor should be willing to commit to a job or at least a longer notice period. On the flip-side, giving a client a termination right on 7 days is more understandable but certainly from a contractor's perspective I think more certainty over contract duration is preferable.

Indemnity: Client -> Contractor indemnity is obviously preferable from a contractor perspective, but any client is going to want to have a reciprocal indemnity, or at least an indemnity in respect of third party IP. Generally considering the client will have leverage, it's important to acknowledge that. Presenting a document with a client only indemnity risks that in my view! In some ways it's probably better not to put the word indemnity in a contract sent to a client, because it'll just make them start thinking about what indemnities they should take from you, and whether or not they should send this to their lawyer/legal department (if they have one).

Jurisdiction: In most jurisdictions, you would get away with these kinds of general legal provisions. However I would usually expect some thought to have been given to local law.

Payment: Giving the contractor the right to add interest to overdue sums is often a powerful tool to ensure you get paid. In the UK at least we have legislation to that effect so it doesn't necessarily need to be stated (but often good to bring to the attention of the client anyway).

Thanks grabeh, this is helpful feedback!