Freelancer and Gig Contracts

Written by Richard O'Shea, Solicitor TEP · Mary Molloy Solicitors, established 1981 · Last reviewed 21 August 2026

Your terms, not theirs

The freelancer who sends their own engagement terms with every proposal sets the defaults: payment schedule, scope, revisions, IP. The freelancer who signs whatever arrives negotiates from inside the client's document. Your terms don't need to be aggressive — they need to exist, fit Irish law, and cover the five failure modes below. Drafted once, they work every job; see also consultancy agreements for the fuller engagement structure.

The five failure modes — and the clause that prevents each

• Scope creep — a defined deliverables list, a capped revision count, and a written change procedure with rates: the freelance equivalent of the builder's variations clause
• Late and non-payment — deposits before work starts, milestone billing on anything sizeable, late-payment interest, and a suspension right when invoices age
• The IP hostage situation — IP in deliverables transfers on payment in full, not before: unpaid work is your work, which is the only leverage that reliably collects; your pre-existing tools and libraries stay yours expressly
• Unlimited liability for a limited fee — a liability cap referenced to fees paid; refuse uncapped indemnities in client paper
• The ghost client — kill fees for cancelled projects and payment for work done to date on termination

Reading the client's contract

When the client insists on their paper — larger companies will — scan for: payment terms stretching past 30 days; IP assigning on creation rather than payment; warranties you can't give ("all work will be free of defects"); non-competes barring you from their industry (rarely enforceable that broadly, but why sign it); and status clauses contradicting reality — see the employment-status note in our consultancy guide, because the Karshan framework cuts both ways for regular, long-running gigs.

Getting set up

We draft freelancer engagement packs — proposal terms, engagement letter, change-order form — fixed fee, built for reuse, in plain English clients sign without friction. It's the Builder's Contract Pack logic applied to desk trades, because the economics are identical: one document, every job, most disputes prevented.