Whether we’re working with direct clients or with agencies, we need to pay attention to terms and conditions. We often sign them for agencies and some bigger direct clients, but very few of us have our own. In this episode I talk to Andrew Leigh, a UK-based freelance translator who has presented and written about terms and conditions for translators.

Important things covered in this episode:

• Why we need terms and conditions
• What we should include
• Agency terms and conditions  ̶  important things to note
• Changing a client’s terms and conditions
• Our terms and conditions and their validity abroad
• Where we should post our terms and conditions, and when we should send them to clients
• Do we need to hire a lawyer?
• Good practices for protecting our businesses legally

Useful links mentioned in this episode:

• Andrew’s website: www.allegrolt.co.uk
• Andrew’s Terms of Business page

Some translator associations, such as ITI and ATA, offer model contracts to use as a template. With Andrew’s valuable tips, I hope more of us will remember to pay more attention to both our own and other companies’ terms and conditions. Thank you to Andrew, and see you all in the next podcast!

Andrew Leigh is a UK-based translator from French, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese into English specialising in legal, business and commercial translations. He has worked in the translation industry for over 15 years and now runs his own company, Allegro Legal Translations. Andrew holds a degree in English law and has a particular interest in the area of contract law. He is a Qualified Member of the Institute of Translation and Interpreting (ITI) and has written articles in the ITI Bulletin about terms and conditions and payment practices for freelance translators and interpreters as well as delivering a presentation entitled “Being Contract Smart” at the ITI Conference in 2013. Andrew has also run workshops for ITI at both a regional and national level.

Thank you Catherine Metcalfe for the proofreading/editing of the show notes.

This episode is sponsored by:

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Corinne McKay, who teaches online business courses for beginning and experienced freelance translators. If you’d like to earn more money, work with higher-quality clients and feel more confident about your freelance business skills, visit her website corinnemckay.com and click the Online Courses for Translators tab.

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