Consultant & Independent Contractor Agreements [Paperback]

Stephen Fishman (Author), Steve Fishman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1998

If "Get it in writing" is the mantra of independent contractors and consultants, then Attorney Fishman's book is their holy text. It provides legal and practical advice on how to write a clear, solid legal agreement. It also explains how to define current projects, establish deadlines, avoid disputes, set fees and satisfy IRS requirements.

Includes tear-out agreements and a disk with over 15 agreements tailored to the most popular fields for independent contractors.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Offers practical and thorough legal advice on the most commonly encountered consulting and independent contractor issues. (Writer-On-Line.com 20090101)

Illuminates some of the most important elements of this growing way to work... Fishman's book helps identify and clarify questions and concerns. (Boston Globe 20090101)

Worth the price for the information and forms that either directly affect creative consultants or can be adapted for editorial services. (Freelance Writer's Report 20090101)

For help with such contracts... consult books such as Consultant & Independent Contractor Agreements. (Newsweek 20090101)

Explains the relationship in general and special factors for household services, consultants, salespeople, accountants, software consultants, creative services and construction. (Rochester Democrat & Chronicle 20090101)

Don't do anything without reading Consultant & Independent Contractor Agreements.... this book will help you understand the importance of written agreements and will show you exactly how to put your agreement together. (Small Business Opportunities )

Gives you the instructions and forms you need to get the legalities straight, stay out of trouble and get the job done. (Workspan ) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"For help with such contracts... consult books such as Consultant & Independent Contractor Agreements." --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Nolo; Bk&CD-Rom edition (November 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0873374576
• ISBN-13: 978-0873374576
• Product Dimensions: 10.8 x 8.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,974,297 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

52 of 53 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Use templates but get final validation from a lawyer., August 10, 2003

By 

Harinath Thummalapalli (Austin, TX United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Consultant & Independent Contractor Agreements, Third Edition (Paperback)

If you are running a small business, you will definitely need some sort of agreements to use with your clients or vendors. This Nolo guide should be used in conjunction with another Nolo guide 'How to Create Noncompete Agreements' to have the best combination of contracts to protect yourself.

The first few chapters in the book outline both perspectives - hired consultant and client hiring the consultant. The chapters following these initial chapters focus on different kinds of situations like Agreements for Accounting and Bookkeeping Services, Agreements for Software Consultants (the one I started using right away), etc. These chapters basically outline the relevant contract and discuss the purpose of each clause in the contract along with their alternatives. You can then select the alternative that best suits your situation and modify the contract accordingly.

You will find the various sample agreements to be used by the hiring firm and by the independent contractor at the end of the book (and on the CD-ROM).

It took me all of 15 minutes to read the chapter on agreements for software consultants and highlight the clauses I wanted to modify. I spent an additional hour modifying the electonic version of the form and saving the file. After this, I emailed the electronic copy to my lawyer who charged me a much lower fee to check the contract! She basically found 3 errors I didn't know about and fixed them for me. I then sent the contract to my client to sign. Right there, the book paid for itself many times over!

But don't forget to combine this book with the other book on Noncompete Agreements. It is especially critical if you are the hiring firm. Good luck!

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Is this what you really need., December 11, 2008

By 

Scott T. Strachan "scott" (South Florida) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Consultant & Independent Contractor Agreements (Paperback)

This Nolo Book is getting a poor review only because its companion book "Working With Independent Contractors" was so good. This book is basically a limited reprint of the above cited book with a few additional specalized contracts. If you need those specalized contracts then this may be worth your money, otherwise get "Working With Independent Contractors" its great.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Quite helpful, November 23, 2007

By 

L. W. Schroeder (Hendersonville, NC, United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Consultant And Independent Contractor Agreements. Book with CD-Rom (5th Edition) (Paperback)

This book pretty much covers the waterfront for independent contractors. The enclosed CDROM is quite helpful as it contains all the forms discussed. The discussion of liability and in particular liability to third parties is more extensively discussed in Fishman's other book, "Working for Yourself".