Eight clauses that do the actual work
Scope by reference to the scope document, so one source of truth exists. Fees and the invoicing schedule. Payment terms with a day count and a late consequence. Client obligations, the people, data and decisions they owe. Change process, how scope changes get priced and approved. Termination, how either side exits and what gets paid through the exit. Ownership of work product, and what you retain the right to reuse as methods and templates. And confidentiality both directions.
Liability caps, indemnities and IP subtleties matter and belong to counsel. The eight above are the ones consultants themselves invoke in a normal year.
The change note habit
The change process only protects you if it is frictionless enough to use. Keep a one paragraph change note: what is changing, what it costs, how it moves the timeline, approved by reply. Ten minutes, sent the day scope moves, while the conversation that caused it is fresh. Practices that price changes casually in meetings and paper them never end up donating the difference.
The deeper effect is behavioral: clients who see changes priced promptly start weighing requests before making them, which is scope discipline you did not have to argue for.
Payment terms that get honored
Deposits are normal: a third to a half up front for project work, first month in advance on retainers. Net 15 beats net 30 for small practices, and invoice timing should ride milestones, not month ends, so payment maps to demonstrated progress. State the late consequence plainly and enforce it once; the practices with receivables problems are almost always the ones that signaled flexibility early.
When a client pushes for longer terms, trade rather than concede: longer terms against a larger deposit, or against a rate that prices the financing you are extending. You are a consultant, not a lender.
Paper, engagement and invoice on one record
On VelorStrategy the paper lives with the work: the Legal Desk holds your engagement agreement and change note templates with Velora on the language, the Consulting Desk ties them to the engagement and its milestones, and invoicing fires from the same record on the schedule the letter promised.
That connection is the discipline: scope changes become change notes because the note is one click from the conversation. From the Plus membership, with counsel review always recommended on anything material.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a lawyer to write my engagement letter?
Have counsel review your standard template once, then reuse it. The operational clauses here keep engagements healthy day to day; the legal architecture underneath them is your lawyer’s craft.
Should consultants take deposits?
Yes: a third to a half up front on projects, first month on retainers. A deposit prices commitment on both sides and filters the clients who were going to be collection problems.
What goes in a change order for consulting work?
One paragraph: the change, the price, the timeline effect, approved by written reply. Sent the day scope moves. Length kills the habit, and the habit is the protection.