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§ Contract Review

Service · Consulting · Contractor · NDA · Vendor

Send the contract.Get a structured read.

Fixed-fee review of a single commercial, employment, contractor, or vendor agreement. The deliverable is a flagged document, a revision memo with the reasoning behind each change, and a 30-minute call. Booked, scoped, and quoted in writing before the file opens.

Review from
$850
Deliverable
Memo · Flagged doc · Call
Turnaround
Scoped in writing

§ 01 — What you receive

Three deliverables, in writing.

The output of a contract review is the same on every file. No hourly mystery, no clause-by-clause noise — a tight, structured memo that points to the lines that change the outcome and the lines that do not.

  1. Flagged document

    The contract returned with comments on the clauses that matter — anchored to the page and section, not buried in a separate spreadsheet.

  2. Revision memo

    A short written memo: the issues, the recommended changes, and the reasoning behind each. Suitable to forward to the other side or to your finance and ops leads.

  3. 30-minute call

    A call to walk through the memo, talk through the negotiation order, and answer the practical questions that always come up after the read.

§ 02 — How it runs

Five steps, in order.

  1. Inquiry

    Send the contract and a short summary through the consultation form. Do not send confidential commercial terms until the firm confirms it can act.

  2. Conflict check

    Northline screens for conflicts based on the named counterparties before opening the file. If a conflict exists, the firm refers out the same day.

  3. Engagement

    A written fee arrangement is sent for signature with the scope, fixed fee, and turnaround. Work begins after the engagement is countersigned.

  4. Read and memo

    The contract is read against the six structured lines (below) and the memo is drafted. Most reviews land within five business days unless otherwise scoped.

  5. Call and next move

    A 30-minute call walks through the memo and the negotiation route. If a re-draft is in scope, it follows the call. Otherwise the engagement closes there.

§ 03 — How we read

The six lines we look at.

Every commercial contract is read against the same six structured lines. The paragraphs that talk about these are the ones that change the outcome — the rest is template.

  1. Scope

    What is being delivered, by whom, by when, and how changes are documented and priced.

  2. Payment

    Milestones, holdbacks, late fees, currency, taxes, and what triggers the obligation to pay.

  3. Termination

    Termination for convenience, for cause, notice periods, survival of obligations, and wind-down.

  4. Ownership

    IP assignment versus licence, background IP, residuals, data, deliverables, and templates.

  5. Liability

    Caps, carve-outs, indemnities, insurance, consequential damages, and third-party claims.

  6. Leverage

    What each side actually relies on in practice, and what would happen if the relationship ended today.

§ 04 — Fixed fees

Quoted before the file opens.

The starting point depends on the type of agreement. Volume and complex commercial files move onto an advisory retainer with a written scope.

Fixed-fee

Contract Review

$850starting

Document review, red flags, revision memo, and call.

  • Document review
  • Red flags
  • Revision memo
  • Call
Fixed-fee

Employment Agreement Review

$650starting

Agreement review, issue summary, call, and recommended changes.

  • Agreement review
  • Issue summary
  • Call
  • Recommended changes
Fixed-fee

Independent Contractor Agreement

$1,250starting

Draft or review, classification risk notes, and a revision round.

  • Draft or review
  • Classification risk notes
  • One revision round

§ 05 — Scope boundary

What this does not cover.

A contract review is a defined deliverable for a single agreement. It is not a litigation strategy, an audit of a prior dispute, or a tax read. Files that need that work are referred to the right counsel — or scoped onto a separate engagement if Northline can act on them.

For ongoing contract volume — vendor queues, hiring templates, contractor onboarding — the right structure is usually an advisory retainer rather than a stack of individual reviews.

Walnut desk detail with a marked-up contract, legal pad, fountain pen, reading glasses, and a water glass
Open laptop beside printed agreements, a pen, cream file folder, and sticky-note flags on a walnut desk
Document storage shelf with blackened steel shelving, cream folders, archive boxes, and legal books

§ Send the contract

Read the lines that decide.

A fixed-fee review returns a flagged document, a revision memo, and a call. The matter type is preselected on the booking form.

Northline Law

Toronto · Ontario