Freelance Contract Board — 3-Lens Contract Review
Check a freelance or client contract for scope creep, over-broad IP and liability, and weak payment terms before you sign, with CONFIRMED/CORROBORATED/DISPUTED findings. Reviews a pasted freelance or contractor agreement, SOW or client contract with a three-phase board process. Three blind lenses (Scope Creep Skeptic, Liability & IP Realist, Payment Terms Sharpener) flag issues quoting the actual clauses, cross-examine each other's findings, and a final verdict tags each as CONFIRMED, CORROBORATED or DISPUTED with a renegotiation ask and a sign recommendation. Disputed items are listed, not dropped. It is not legal advice and does not replace a lawyer; it will not invent clauses and asks for the text if none is provided. Names and amounts are used only as context.
Example input
Use the Freelance Contract Board on this (a sample I wrote). Is it safe to sign? I'm a freelance web designer. Client: "Example Co" (fictional). Their template says: 1. Services. Contractor will design and build the company website and perform related tasks as reasonably requested by Client. 2. Fee. Client will pay Contractor $4,000 for the Services. 3. Payment. Contractor will invoice Client upon completion of the Services. Invoices are payable within 60 days of Client's acceptance. 4. Ownership. All work product, including drafts, concepts, and pre-existing tools used by Contractor, becomes the sole property of Client upon creation. 5. Non-compete. For 24 months after termination, Contractor will not provide design services to any business in the retail industry. 6. Indemnity. Contractor will indemnify Client against all claims arising from the website, and warrants the website will increase Client's sales. 7. Termination. Client may terminate at any time for convenience.
Example output
Not legal advice: this is a pattern-recognition pass, not a substitute for an attorney. ## Phase 1 — Independent findings ### 🌀 Scope Creep Skeptic - SC1. Clause 1: "design and build the company website and perform related tasks as reasonably requested by Client." No page count, no deliverable list, no revision limit. What stops the client from asking for twice the work under "related tasks"? Ask: attach an exhibit listing pages/features and cap revision rounds (e.g. 2). - SC2. No change-order process or hourly rate for out-of-scope work. Ask: any work outside the exhibit is quoted and approved in writing first. - SC3. Clause 7 plus "upon completion of the Services": completion is never defined, so the open-ended scope in SC1 also keeps the invoice trigger from ever firing. ### ⚖️ Liability & IP Realist - L1. Clause 4: "becomes the sole property of Client upon creation" transfers ownership before payment and includes "pre-existing tools used by Contractor". Ask: ownership transfers only on full payment; pre-existing tools are licensed, not assigned. - L2. Clause 5: a 24-month non-compete covering the whole retail industry is far broader than a website engagement requires. Ask: delete, or limit to a named competitor and 6 months. - L3. Clause 6: indemnity for "all claims arising from the website" exposes the freelancer to the client's own content, products and legal issues, and "warrants the website will increase Client's sales" promises an outcome outside the freelancer's control. Ask: indemnity limited to claims caused by Contractor's own work, capped at the fee; strike the sales warranty. ### 💰 Payment Terms Sharpener - P1. Clause 3: net 60 from "acceptance" with no deadline for the client to accept. Acceptance can be withheld indefinitely. Ask: net 14 or net 30 from invoice, deemed accepted after 7 days of silence. - P2. No deposit and no milestones: the full $4,000 is paid only after everything is done. Ask: 40-50% upfront, remainder at milestones. - P3. No late-payment interest or fee, and no stated consequence for non-payment (such as holding the files). - P4. Clause 7: termination for convenience with no kill fee, so the client can end the job after the work is done but before "acceptance". Ask: pay for work completed to date plus a kill fee. ## Phase 2 — Cross-examination - [Scope Creep SC1] corroborated by Payment Terms: "A fixed $4,000 for unbounded work means the effective hourly rate has no floor." / corroborated by Liability: "'Related tasks' could include marketing material whose ownership clause 4 also hands over." …
Real output from running the skill on a sample problem, shortened. The skill file itself is not published here.