Our approach
Why your contracts need to be yours
Every business sends out contracts. Client agreements, terms of business, supplier terms, freelancer agreements: these are the documents that define what you've agreed, what happens when something goes wrong, and whether you can enforce it. The problem with generic templates is that they're written for a notional business, not yours. They may not cover the specific risks in your sector, they may be internally inconsistent, and they may not be enforceable for the particular type of work you do. The risk also compounds: a single flawed contract might be manageable, but send the same template across every client deal you do and the aggregate exposure is effectively the value of your entire business.
A bespoke contract template is built around your business model: how you price, how you deliver, what you're responsible for and what you're not, how you handle disputes. Used properly, it reduces the legal risk on every deal you do without you having to instruct a solicitor each time.
How we work with you
All our template work is priced on a fixed fee, agreed before we start. Whether you need a single document or a full suite, you'll know the cost upfront.
We work in two ways, depending on where you're starting from. If you need new templates, we draft them from scratch based on a conversation about how you operate: your client relationships, your payment model, your delivery process, your risk appetite. If you already have contracts in use, we review them, identify the gaps and weaknesses, and redraft or improve them. Either way, the output is something you own and can use on every deal going forward without needing to come back to us every time.
The types of documents we build most often include client T&Cs and terms of business, project agreements, supplier and sub-contractor terms, freelancer and contractor agreements, influencer agreements, and website terms. If you're not sure what you need, we can work through that with you.
Who we work with
Template work tends to matter most when you're scaling: when more work is going out the door, more suppliers are coming in, and more freelancers are involved. That's the profile of most of our template clients: founder-led agencies, tech businesses and high-growth companies that are winning more deals and need their contracts to keep pace.
Businesses in the digital, creative and professional services space have specific risks around IP ownership, project scope and payment that generic T&Cs handle badly, if at all. We know the pressure points and we build for them.
Pricing
.svg)
Fixed-fee project
.svg)
Available via subscription
Case Studies
Meet the team
Craig is a corporate and commercial solicitor at Tend Legal, working with founders, business owners and leadership teams as they build, grow and protect their businesses.
He advises on a wide range of matters: mergers and acquisitions, shareholder agreements, company structures, governance and commercial contracts of all kinds. Craig also has a particular interest in intellectual property, and regularly advises on trademark and copyright matters. His IP work has included a matter involving a Premier League and England international footballer, and advising on a copyright assignment connected to a well-known album cover.
Down-to-earth and easy to work with, Craig places a strong emphasis on clear communication and making sure clients feel confident about the decisions they're making. He works closely with agency and commercial clients, acting as an accessible part of their wider advisory team.
Outside of work, Craig is a keen football fan and enjoys spending time with his family.
Neelam is a corporate and commercial solicitor with a practical, no-fuss approach to helping businesses get things done.
On the commercial side, she works with agencies, tech companies and growing businesses on the contracts that underpin their operations: drafting, reviewing and negotiating agreements across a wide range of commercial arrangements. On the corporate side, she assists overseas businesses setting up in the UK and forming UK subsidiaries, and has experience of M&A transactions and investment rounds.
Before qualifying as a solicitor, Neelam had a career in legal technology, including as Director of Global Product at LegalZoom. She brings that perspective to everything she does: a deep understanding of what good legal service looks like from the client's side, and how to deliver it.
She's also unfailingly cheerful. Even on Mondays.
When Neelam isn't at her desk, she can often be found upcycling old furniture in her shed, discovering new eateries or testing out recipes on friends and family.
From the moment she got involved in her parents' businesses at a young age, Nicole knew she had a passion for helping businesses thrive.
A corporate and commercial solicitor, Nicole focuses on the work that matters most to growing businesses: M&A transactions, investment rounds, shareholder agreements and company secretarial support. She also helps clients navigate the commercial side: negotiating and reviewing contracts, advising on joint ventures, and being a steady pair of hands through transactions of all sizes.
Nicole is also working towards an MBA, which tells you something about her character and her love of business. Her advice is grounded in commercial reality, not just legal theory.
When she's not taking care of business, Nicole likes to read, run, play tennis and attend church.
Alistair co-founded Tend Legal with Shona on a simple idea: that small and medium-sized businesses deserve the same quality of legal advice as large companies, without the large firm experience.
As a solicitor with a broad commercial practice, he advises business owners on the full range of issues that come with running and growing a company. That means employment law: advising on settlement agreements, workforce decisions and the day-to-day employment questions that land on founders' desks. It means commercial work: negotiating and reviewing contracts, supplier agreements, and the commercial arrangements that keep a business running. And it means corporate transactions: from business sales and acquisitions to investment rounds, share structures and restructures.
Before co-founding Tend Legal, Alistair was a partner at Woodfords Solicitors in South West London, where he spent over a decade building a reputation for clear, commercial advice to SMEs. He is known for his calm approach, his ability to cut through complexity, and his willingness to give a straight answer.
When not working or acting as taxi driver to his three children, Alistair can be found riding bikes or skateboards, playing various instruments, or at church.
Frequently Asked Questions
You can, but it carries real risk. Free or cheap templates are written for a generic business in a generic industry. They may not cover your specific type of work, they may be written for a different jurisdiction, and they're often internally inconsistent in ways that only become apparent when something goes wrong.
More practically: if you're in a dispute and the contract doesn't say what you thought it said, you're in a much weaker position than if you had invested in something properly drafted. A bespoke template costs more than a downloaded one, but it's a one-time investment that reduces risk on every deal you do from that point forward.
The specifics depend on your business, but most client-facing terms need to address: what you're agreeing to deliver, how and when you get paid, what happens if the client is late paying, who owns the intellectual property in the work you produce, how liability is limited, what the client needs to provide to let you do the work, and how either party can end the relationship.
The areas most often handled badly in generic T&Cs are IP (particularly for creative or digital businesses), liability caps (too high, too vague, or missing entirely), and what happens when scope changes. These are the points that generate the most disputes, and the ones most worth getting right.
Yes. A freelancer or contractor agreement serves a different purpose from your client T&Cs. Its main jobs are to make clear the working relationship (so there's no ambiguity about employment status), to ensure the IP in what they create belongs to your business, and to set out confidentiality obligations.
IR35 and employment status are live issues in the UK at the moment, and a well-drafted contractor agreement is part of how you demonstrate that the relationship is genuinely self-employed. It won't on its own determine the tax position, but it's an important part of the picture.
There's no fixed rule, but there are clear triggers. If your business model changes significantly, if you start working in a new sector or with a new type of client, if there's a change in the law that affects your work, or if you've had a dispute that exposed a gap in your current terms: any of these are reasons to review.
Beyond that, a periodic review every two to three years is sensible for most businesses. Contracts that were drafted when a business was small and straightforward often don't keep up with how the business grows and evolves.
Yes, and for many businesses this is the right starting point. We review what you have, identify the specific gaps and weaknesses, and either redraft the problem clauses or produce a clean version of the whole document depending on what makes sense.
This is often more cost-effective than starting from scratch, particularly if your existing contracts are broadly sensible but have grown organically and developed inconsistencies over time. We'll tell you at the outset which approach we recommend and why.