Terms and conditions drafting

I draft customer and supplier terms and conditions for UK businesses for a fixed fee of £1,500 to £2,500 plus VAT, delivered in ten working days. I am Geoffrey Caesar, a solicitor of England and Wales admitted in 2008, based in London and acting for businesses across England and Wales.

Most owner-managed businesses are trading on one of three things: terms copied from a competitor's website, a template bought some years ago for £40, or nothing at all. All three work perfectly well right up until the moment they do not.

Good terms do two jobs at once. They cap what can go wrong, and they get through the other side's procurement without a three week argument. Terms that fail the second test are not protecting you, because nobody ever signs them.

What it costs

• Standard terms, £1,500 plus VAT. One product or service line, straightforward supply. Ten working days.
• Complex terms, £2,500 plus VAT. Multiple service lines, phased delivery, licensing or data elements.
• Review of your existing terms, £450 plus VAT. You already have terms and want to know how much of a problem they are.

I confirm the band after a short briefing call, before any work starts. If your existing terms can be adapted rather than replaced, I will tell you, and that is a cheaper job.

What you get

• A full set of terms drafted around your business, not a template with your name inserted
• A covering note in plain English explaining every commercial choice I made and why, so you can defend the terms in a negotiation without ringing me
• Liability, payment, termination and IP provisions set at a level that will survive a procurement review
• Consumer-facing wording drafted to be enforceable where you sell to consumers
• Guidance on how to incorporate the terms properly, which is where most businesses actually fail
• One round of amendments after you have read them

What is not included

• Negotiating your terms with individual customers
• Sector-specific regulatory compliance beyond the contract terms themselves
• Website privacy notice and cookie compliance, which I quote separately
• Terms governed by the law of another country

How long it takes

Ten working days from payment for a standard set, and the same for complex terms in most cases. The briefing call happens first and takes about thirty minutes.

How to instruct me

1. Email me. Send any relevant documents, or three or four lines describing the situation and your deadline. You do not need to prepare a brief.
2. I confirm the scope, the price and the timetable. In writing, usually the same working day, and if a short call would help I will offer one at no charge. I then invoice you, and the work starts once the invoice is paid. Larger pieces of work can be split into milestone payments if that suits you better.
3. I deliver on the agreed date. With a call or a follow-up exchange included, so you are not paying again to understand the advice.

Why instruct me directly

A law firm has premises, partners, support staff, marketing and a compliance department, and every hour it bills has to carry a share of all of it. I have none of that. You are paying for the lawyer and nothing else.

• Senior attention as standard. The person who reads your contract is the person you emailed. Nothing is delegated to a trainee.
• In-house and private practice experience. I know what a clause does to a business six months later, not just what it says.
• No onboarding process. Email, scope, fixed price, invoice, work. There is no client portal to register with and no forms to complete.
• Better value for the same expertise. Without a firm's overheads, senior time costs less, which is why fixed fees at this level are possible at all.
• Fixed prices, published. You know the number before you commit. I publish them because cost uncertainty is the main reason businesses do not take advice they need.

Who this is for

• You are selling on someone else's paper and have no baseline of your own
• Your terms predate a material change in what you sell or how you deliver it
• You are about to start selling to larger customers who will actually read them
• You sell online and are not confident your terms are properly incorporated

Questions I am often asked

How much does it cost to have terms and conditions drafted?

£1,500 plus VAT for a standard set covering one product or service line, and £2,500 plus VAT where there are multiple service lines, phased delivery, licensing or data elements. Reviewing terms you already have is £450 plus VAT.

I confirm which applies before any work starts.

Can I not just use a template?

You can, and for a very simple business it may be enough. The difficulty is that a template cannot know your delivery risk, your payment terms, what you are actually promising or where your money is tied up. The clauses that matter most are precisely the ones a template has to guess at.

My customers always insist on their own terms. Is this still worth it?

Even more so. If you always trade on their paper you have no idea what your aggregate exposure looks like. Having your own terms gives you a baseline, a negotiating position, and a way of knowing what you have given away when you accept theirs.

What is the difference between customer terms and supplier terms?

They are different documents doing opposite jobs. Customer terms limit what you promise and protect your payment. Supplier terms secure what you are buying and push risk back up the chain. They are priced separately, though there is a reduction for doing both together.

How often do terms need updating?

Realistically every three to five years, or sooner if your business model changes or you start selling to a materially different type of customer. If you are on a retainer, a review comes out of your monthly hours.

Why does incorporation matter more than drafting?

Because excellent terms that were not properly brought to the customer's attention before the contract was made are worth very little. If your terms are a link in a footer that nobody clicked, you may not be trading on them at all. The covering note tells you exactly how to fix that in your ordering process.

About me

I am Geoffrey Caesar. I have worked on commercial contracts since 2001, first in industry and then in private practice, so I have sat on both sides of the table: as the in-house lawyer who has to live with the contract, and as the external adviser who drafts it.

• Solicitor of England and Wales, admitted 2008. SRA ID 483394.
• Practising as an SRA-regulated freelance solicitor under regulation 10.2(b) of the SRA Authorisation of Individuals Regulations. Practice SRA number 666497.
• Regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority and authorised to provide all legal services, including reserved legal activities.
• Called to the Bar by Gray's Inn in 2005.
• Working on commercial contracts since 2001, in-house and in private practice.
• Based in London, acting for businesses across England and Wales.
• Professional indemnity insurance in place with a limit of £1,000,000 for each claim, with defence costs in addition. Details on request.
• I do not hold client money.

Two things you should know about instructing a freelance solicitor rather than a law firm. My professional indemnity insurance is not on the SRA's minimum terms and conditions; alternative arrangements are in place instead, and I will give you the details on request. And you can still apply to the SRA Compensation Fund for losses caused by dishonesty or a failure to account for money. Everything else, including the Code of Conduct, the SRA Principles and the Legal Ombudsman, applies to me exactly as it applies to any other solicitor.

Related services

• Contract review, £450 plus VAT, if the other side sent theirs
• Data protection agreements and privacy terms, £950 plus VAT
• Legal health check, £1,500 plus VAT

Last reviewed: September 2026. Email geoffrey@caesar.co.uk.