Advice on working with joomla developer

[ggossamer]

Hi, I'm about to enter into an agreement to develop one of our websites with a joomla developer. They've included the standard legalese about "force majeure", "severability", and "project abandonment" and a few others.

Does anyone have any recommendations of things that should be included in such an agreement to protect the client? Do you have a sample contract that you believe is fair to the client you could share?

Of course I understand everyone's situation is different, and I should have a lawyer look over it (I will), but I'd like to some ideas of things I can use to protect myself to use as a starting point.

Any ideas greatly appreciated.

[sozzled]

This topic has nothing to do with Joomla per se. If anything, this topic should be moved to "The Lounge" (if people want to discuss it). Force majeure, project abandonment and severability clauses are routinely inserted by people entering into contracts. If people dislike or disagree with any contractual terms no-one is forcing anyone to sign such contracts; if you don't like it then don't sign it; if you don't understand it then seek expert advice.

Most IT-related contracts borrow heavily from typical bricks-and-mortar building-type contracts. For instance, it's possible that natural forces—catastrophic physical forces—such as typhoons, eathquakes, riot or civil unrest may may it impossible for building contractors to complete the scope of work within a specified timeframe and that's why force majeure provisions are inserted to handle such unforeseen contingencies. It's possible, for example, that an IT developer's workplace might be destroyed by some such event (although, it could be reasonably argued, that the developer should have contingency or escrow arrangements in place to cater for such [unlikely] events).

This is an internet discussion forum. It is not a place to obtain 100% reliable legal advice.

[ggossamer]

This was meant to be a simple question. Does anyone have a boilerplate document they find particularly suitable for use when entering into web developer/joomla agreement?

Of course I know we're not lawyers and I'm not trying to obtain 100% reliable legal advice. Just looking for a start. Of course I know about "legal zoom", what "force majeure" means, etc.

I'm looking for personal experiences - there's a billion web developer documents out there. What should I be sure to include in mine, based on your experience?

[Webdongle]

This was meant to be a simple question. ...

But the answer is not simple... if it was then we would all speak leagalease and not need solicitors.