Consulting Agreement

A Consulting Agreement is a document between a consultant and a client. In a Consulting Agreement, the consultant agrees to "consult" for the client - generally, business consulting. Consulting means the consultant is hired as an independent contractor to assist the client with whatever they have described in the agreement.

Within these agreements, the consultant and client outline their expectations and agree to the bounds of the relationship between them. Consulting Agreements can be used either for in-person consulting jobs or online jobs.

In a Consulting Agreement, the most important details of the parties' relationship will be entered: things such as a description of the consulting work, as well as fee information, and how the client is expected to pay. A good Consulting Agreement will also have both parties covered in case anything goes wrong: clauses such as a limitation on liability and a selection of governing law should be included.

This document should only be used for a specific consultant/client relationship. For other non-employee service providers, a Service Agreement or Independent Contractor Agreement can be used.

How to use this document

This document can be used for a consultant getting ready to enter into a new relationship with a client, or for a client preparing to hire a consultant. The consulting relationship can be of any type: general business operations, marketing, human resources, strategy, financial consulting, etc.

In this document, pertinent identifying details will be entered, such as whether the parties are individuals or businesses, and their respective addresses and contact information. Then, the most important characteristics of the agreement between the parties will be described, like what consulting services, specifically, the parties are contracting for, fee information, duration, etc.

When this agreement is filled out, it should be printed, signed by both parties, and a copy should be kept with each.

Applicable law

Consulting agreements in the United States are subject to general contract principles, which can be governed by both state and federal law. It's important that the consultant-client relationship does not look like an employment relationship, because then the application of employment laws would change the intention of the parties' relationship.

How to modify the template

You fill out a form. The document is created before your eyes as you respond to the questions.

At the end, you receive it in Word and PDF formats. You can modify it and reuse it.