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What is it? This is a contract between your business and your customers. It sets out the services to be provided, the payment terms, timelines, disclaimers, warranties, ownership of intellectual property, indemnities, limitation of liabilities, insurance, responsibilities of the customer, and more.
Who needs one? Any business that
• Offers services that are project-based, ongoing, or subscription-based
• Requires entrance to a customer’s home
• Takes payment in advance, over time, or at the end of the services
• Purchases items on the client’s behalf
• Provides professional services
• Provides advice/consulting
• Provides guidance or care for the customer, their dependents or pets -
What is it? This is a contract between a business and an independent contractor hired to perform a service. It sets out the services to be performed by the contractor, the payment terms, timelines, materials to be provided by either party, disclaimers, warranties, ownership of intellectual property and work product, indemnities, limitation of liabilities, insurance, specific wording around independent contractor relationship, non-competition, non-solicitation, and more.
Who needs one? A consultant or contractor being retained by a company, or a company that is hiring contractors to perform work rather than employees. -
What is it? This is a contract between an employer and an employee. It sets out the employee’s job description, wage, policies including overtime, vacation, dress code, and workplace expectations, as well as termination and notice requirements, and non-competition provisions. It corresponds to the applicable provincial employment legislation.
Who needs one? Any business that hires an employee, whether they are full time, part-time or casual. -
What is it? This is a very specifically-worded contract a business may require its customers to sign before they can participate in the business’s activities or services. In signing a waiver, the customers acknowledge and assume any risk involved, agree not to sue, and indemnify the business for any loss due to customers’ participation in the activity or service.
Who needs one? A waiver is suitable for any business involved in fitness, outdoor recreation, excursions, travel, event space or equipment rental, beauty procedures, or any activity or service with a foreseeable risk factor. -
What is it? This is a contract that binds one or both parties not to disclose the confidential and proprietary information of the other party, and sets out any exceptions as well as remedies if the agreement is breached.
Who needs one? You may need one if:
• You have created an idea or product, and you want to share information about it with a third-party to get help developing it or bringing it to market
• You have a business opportunity you want to consider entering with another party, and you want to have legal recourse in the event they use your idea for their own benefit or disclose it to others.
• You are selling your business and a potential buyer wants information about your business operations and financials. -
What is it? This is a contract between your business and the users of your website. It sets out the terms by which they may use the website, that they must abide by your policies (including booking, returns, payment), disclaimers, ownership of content, limitations of liability, user representations (e.g. that they are over the age of majority), and any restrictions on user postings. It also ties into your privacy policy.
Who needs one? Ideally all websites should have a terms of use, especially if the website links to third-party websites or advertisements, if users can post content, and if you have policies you want users to agree to before they can use the site. -
What is it? This is a document that sets out your business’s privacy policy and shows that you are in compliance with the applicable federal and provincial privacy laws. It sets out what personal information you collect from users of the website/your customers, how you use it, how you protect and store it, and in what circumstances you may disclose it.
Who needs one? The legislation mandates that every business that collects personal information (information about an identifiable individual such as name, age, email address, or even comments and customer complaints, as well as IP addresses if they can be associated with a particular individual) must have a privacy policy. If your business has a website whereby any such information is submitted by the public, you should have your privacy policy on your website.
Have you been asked to sign a contract? Get a comprehensive legal review to understand what you're signing, know your rights and obligations, spot potential issues, and get assistance with negotiating changes.
Common contracts I review include:
Commercial Lease (Alberta and British Columbia)
Employment Agreement (Alberta and British Columbia)
Independent Contractor Agreement
Non-disclosure/Confidentiality Agreement
Non-competition Agreement
Please send me the contract you would like to have reviewed, along with any relevant background information and specific concerns you may have. If I can assist you, I’ll provide an estimate for a review.
Understandable and affordable custom contracts, done without delay.
Why should you get properly drafted contracts for your business? Agreeing to terms in advance requires the parties to consider different scenarios and gets their expectations on the same page, often preventing disputes from arising later. A written contract also provides evidence of what everyone agreed to at the beginning, avoiding the ’he said, she said’ scenarios that arise from a ‘handshake deal’ or oral agreement.
However, an online generic template or an old contract that is gifted to you by a friend, may not be helping you - it may not reflect the laws of your jurisdiction, some of its terms may not “hold up” in court, and it may be badly drafted and confusing such that a term could be interpreted in more than one way (and a judge will choose the interpretation that is against you, if it’s your contract that is in question). That’s why a lawyer-drafted contract tailored to your business provides the best protection.
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What is it? This includes all the typical documents you need to enter into an agreement to either purchase or sell the assets of a small business (assets include: equipment, inventory, leasehold improvements, and goodwill), as well as closing documents (such as a bill of sale, form to exempt sale from sales tax if applicable, director and shareholder resolutions if buyer and/or seller is a corporation, and more).
Who needs one? If the purchase price of the business is relatively low and the transaction is straightforward, this package could be a good option, allowing the parties to handle the rest of the transaction themselves to save on legal fees.
It provides you with the contract and other documents you need, tailored to your deal, but does not include ongoing legal representation throughout the transaction. If you need to negotiate with a landlord, receive landlord or franchisor consent, or if the other side has a lawyer who is acting to protect them and you want your own lawyer protecting your interests throughout, then this package would not be sufficient for you. Also, as the purchaser, you will need to conduct searches and due diligence on the seller, which is not included in the package. -
What is it? This includes all the typical documents you need to enter into an agreement to either purchase or sell all of the shares of a small business (once you buy the shares, you own all the assets of the corporation in question) as well as closing documents (such as director and shareholder resolutions, director and officer resignations, certificate of incumbency and more).
Who needs one? If the purchase price of the business is relatively low and typical legal fees of multiple thousands of dollars would eat too far into it, this package could be a good option, allowing the parties to handle the rest of the transaction themselves to save on legal fees.
It provides you with the contract and other documents you need, tailored to your deal, but does not include ongoing legal representation throughout the transaction. If you need to negotiate with a landlord, receive landlord or franchisor consent to the transfer, or if the other side has a lawyer who is acting to protect them and you want your own lawyer protecting your interests throughout, then this package would not be sufficient for you. Also, as the purchaser, you have more due diligence to address in a share transaction than you would if you were buying the assets of a company. You will need to review the minute book, and conduct searches and due diligence on the taxes and financial statements, as once you own the company all its history and liabilities become yours. The package does not include this due diligence. -
What is it? This is all the typical documents you need to enter into an agreement where one shareholder in a business is selling their shares to another shareholder, as well as closing documents (such as director and shareholder resolutions, director and officer resignations and more).
Who needs one? If the purchase price of the shares is relatively low and typical legal fees would eat too far into it, this package could be a good option, allowing the parties to handle the rest of the transaction themselves to save on legal fees. It provides you with the contract and other documents you need, tailored to your deal, but does not include ongoing legal representation throughout the transaction. If the other side has a lawyer who is acting to protect them and you want your own lawyer protecting your interests throughout, then this package would not be sufficient for you. Also, as the purchaser, you have more due diligence to address when you are buying shares in an existing company. You will need to review the minute book, and conduct searches and due diligence on the taxes and financial statements, as once you own shares in the company all its history and liabilities become your issue too. The package does not include this due diligence.
We also draft many other contracts - please send us your request for any of these contracts:
Unanimous Shareholders Agreement
Equipment Rental Agreement
License Agreement
Loan Agreement
Promissory Note
Security Agreements – GSA, Personal Guarantee, Corporate Guarantee, Share Pledge
Release/Indemnity Agreement
