Commercial Contract Lawyers

In need of commercial and practical advice? Whether you’re a start-up or multi-national business, Waterfront’s contract lawyers provide advice and assistance on a range of commercial law issues.

Commercial Contracts

Our contract lawyers draft and advise on all manner of commercial contracts, so whether you’ve just started a business and need a set of standard contracts or you’re an established business that needs an experienced contract lawyer to cast a fresh eye over your existing agreements, we’re here to help make the process as seamless as possible.

Our advice is not one-size-fits-all. We want to get to know your business as well as you do, what your priorities are and your attitude to risk. The better we know our clients, the more value we can provide. As contract lawyers, we are here to steer you through the legal challenges that come your way, to support your growth and ambitions throughout your business lifecycle. Our success is driven by our clients’ success.

Our priority when drafting contracts is to protect your business, but our aim is also to provide clear and pragmatic contracts that our clients understand.

Commercial contracts that we frequently deal with:

• Precontractual documents and agreements like non-disclosure agreements (“NDA”s)/confidentiality agreements, memorandums of understanding (“MOU”s)/letters of intent.
• Consultancy agreements (also known as contractor agreements) for the engagement of sub-contractors – whether with freelance individuals or service companies.
• Collaboration, research & development and joint venture agreements.
• Product licensing agreements.
• Master service agreements (which can include framework agreements or call off contracts).
• Outsourcing and Procurement.
• Technology specific contracts (including software licensing, software as a service (“Saas”), platform as a services (“Paas”), Infrastructure as a service (“Iaas”) contracts, cloud service agreements, hosting agreements and support and maintenance agreements.
• Online terms and conditions (also referred to as e-commerce agreements, subscription agreements or terms of use).
• Agency, distribution and manufacturing agreements.
• Franchising.
• Reseller agreements.
• Partner agreements, lead referral/generation agreements, value added reseller agreements (“VAR”), white label agreements and OEM agreements.
• Sale of goods to customers – whether appearing on your website for online sales or as part of your standard order documentation to be signed in person.
• Provision of services to clients – as above, these may apply to online services (which could be as part of a software as a service offering), or standard services contract signed in person.
• Software development contracts – conforming to the relevant development methodology, process and outlining and ownership of intellectual property.
• Licensing intellectual property rights to licensees – setting out the rights and restrictions on use of the relevant IP.

Contract negotiations

Need us to take the lead with customer negotiations? Our contract lawyers are all skilled negotiators and here to help you close that deal. We want to help you win customers, not lose them, so our approach is collaborative, but we are firm when we need to be.

Contract negotiations can be delicate. Waterfront’s contract lawyers are expert negotiators. We understand that dealing with large corporations and their teams of in-house lawyers can often be a daunting and intimidating experience, with many people succumbing to the “we don’t negotiate” stance often adopted by such organisations. However, the Waterfront team has extensive experience in acting for clients, in particular those selling products and services to much larger organisations. Waterfront has assisted in negotiations with:

• Multinational and major blue chip organisations, including many in the financial services sector, e.g. HSBC, JP Morgan Chase, Legal & General, Citibank, Lloyds Bank, Deutsche Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, OCBC Bank, DBS Bank, Scotiabank, State Street, ICBC Standard Bank, and others)
• Household names in a variety of other industries e.g. IKEA, De’Longhi, Co-op, Rolls-Royce, Toyota, Sage, IBM, Avon Products, Chubb, English Cricket Board and many more; and
• Organisations in the public sector including NHS Digital, the Department for Work and Pensions, the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency and London Borough of Brent, to name but a few.

International reach

Our assistance doesn’t just span the UK. We advise international clients where the laws of England and Wales apply and have a range of contacts with like-minded firms and advisers to help advise on the laws of other jurisdictions.

Although international contract involve the laws of more than one jurisdiction, we can guide you to make the right choices and consider the risks in light of your own role in the contract, whether you are a supplier or a buyer, or an intermediary who buys, sells and delivers services as well.

For a free, no obligation conversation with a solicitor contact us.