§ 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.
Flagged document
The contract returned with comments on the clauses that matter — anchored to the page and section, not buried in a separate spreadsheet.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Engagement
A written fee arrangement is sent for signature with the scope, fixed fee, and turnaround. Work begins after the engagement is countersigned.
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.
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.
Scope
What is being delivered, by whom, by when, and how changes are documented and priced.
Payment
Milestones, holdbacks, late fees, currency, taxes, and what triggers the obligation to pay.
Termination
Termination for convenience, for cause, notice periods, survival of obligations, and wind-down.
Ownership
IP assignment versus licence, background IP, residuals, data, deliverables, and templates.
Liability
Caps, carve-outs, indemnities, insurance, consequential damages, and third-party claims.
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.
Contract Review
Document review, red flags, revision memo, and call.
- Document review
- Red flags
- Revision memo
- Call
Employment Agreement Review
Agreement review, issue summary, call, and recommended changes.
- Agreement review
- Issue summary
- Call
- Recommended changes
Independent Contractor Agreement
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.
§ 06 — Related
Adjacent work.
Practice
Business
Structure, ownership, and the documents behind the decisions.
Continue
Practice
For Employers
Hiring, policies, terminations, and risk—before they become disputes.
Continue
Practice
Disputes
Position, leverage, evidence, timing—and a practical route forward.
Continue
Intake · Contracts
Contract Review Intake
Send a single commercial, employment, contractor, or vendor agreement for fixed-fee review — flagged document, revision memo, and call.
Continue
Contracts
Business Contract Red Flags
Scope, payment, liability, termination, IP, and dispute clauses — the lines worth slowing down on.
Continue
Insight · Practice notes
How we read a contract on day one
The intake-to-memo path that runs on every commercial contract review — six structured reads, a flagged document, and a thirty-minute call.
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§ 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.
Toronto · Ontario