I was wondering what most VA's do as far as when signing agreements.

Do you sign the Confidentiality/Non-Disclosure Agreements that your client drafts for you to sign or do you include it in your own agreement that you have drafted for your client to sign? Which is best for a VA to do? I look forward to hearing back from someone. Thank you!

In my mind, a contract and an NDA are two different things. In my business I would still have the client sign my contract and I'd be willing to sign their NDA. A contract cover the agreement between you and the client regard the business transaction that will occur between the two of you. An NDA is just asking that you do not disclosure information about the client to anyone else. Hope this helps.

Thank you for getting back to me. Yes, your posts helped for sure:-) You explained everything very clearly. I was just reviewing the signed service agreement and that is exactly what it is. I do not have a problem signing client's NDA's. However, from this point on, I will draft a seperate confidentiality/non-disclosure agreement to give to a new client along with the service agreement to cover all areas from the get go. Thanks again!

My service contract contains confidentiality and non-disclosure provisions. I will not sign anyone else's agreement. A client can make changes to my standard agreement and, if I approve those changes, I will sign. If not, then there's no deal unless we can come to a mutual agreement. Be very careful what you sign. Unless you have many years of legal experience you may miss things that will come crashing down on you along the way.

I don't mean to scare you, just be careful :cool:

Lynne

Thank you so much Lynne,
You made me remember what a Virtual Assitant told me a year ago.....never sign your client's agreements. I totally agree with you and plan to stand firm in that area as well.

Oh no, you didn't scare me. lol You made me realize how more careful I have to be when signing legal documents without an attorney involved. Thanks again!

I have a contract and mutual non-disclosure agreement that I ask all my clients to sign. The reason being is my non-disclosure covers me if I should talk with a colleague (in general terms) about a clients situation that has signed the non-disclosure agreement with me.

This gives my clients the protection they need and as well as the protection I need. My non-disclosure agreement is one that has been created by a business associate of mine and has been run by their lawyers over and over again.

I will often sign an NDA with someone I'm simply having a conversation with or a group (such as a mastermind group) just to ensure that everyone is protected and all the information shared is protected.

I should add that I do have a confidentiality clause in my contact as well that covers me and the client and I think that's important to have regardless of whether there's another NDA or not.

I have a one-page contract for independent contractors that has a paragraph in it about non-disclosure. I have had companies with their own very short independent contractor contract/NDA and they had to use that one (to which a few changes had to be made specific to my line of work). In those cases, we signed their contract and mine. There was nothing in conflict between the two. I wanted mine signed, too, because there are things in it that were not in their generic one. They had no problem signing both. If I was working with an individual who wanted to draft one instead of using mine, I would either have both signed or make sure everything was in the one they drafted that I wanted.

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Pam Deyerle - Transcriptionist in Richmond, Virginia (Since September 1996 - 19 years)
The Perfect Word Transcription Service

Thank you Renee, Kimberly, and Pam. Your posts were very helpful. All went well! The owner said we can use mine. I will be better prepared in the future now:-)

I don't see why not signing it as long as you read it very closely! Have them sign yours and then sign theirs!

Thanks Shellea. I totally agree with you. My client refused to sign mine (in which I included content that protects my client as well) UNTIL I signed the one she had first. After reading the one she had, it would not be in my best interest to sign for MANY REASONS!

Originally Posted by Celestial Caring Enterprises

Thanks Shellea. I totally agree with you. My client refused to sign mine (in which I included content that protects my client as well) UNTIL I signed the one she had first. After reading the one she had, it would not be in my best interest to sign for MANY REASONS!

I'd be curious to hear more about how this all played out - were you and the client able to come to an agreement and finally get a contract signed or did you not end up working together at all?

I ask because only ONCE have I ever forgone my own contract in favor of a client's - it was a client I wanted very much to work with and so instead of continue to go back and forth about who's contract would get signed I sent my client's contract back to him with my requested edits (all reflecting my business policies and procedures). He agreed to include them all, had it drawn up and we were good to go. Had he not agreed to do that though I would have had to decline the offer to work together.

I'm not sure I'd do this again, but at the time it seemed like the right thing to do.

I hope your situation worked out for the best!

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I am with Pam - many corporations have specific forms that have to be part of their file. That is a rule of mine too - so would use both; and be sure that the language did not conflict.

Wow - this thread has been a huge eye opener for me. Thanks for the conversation guys - and like Tess Im curious as to how it all panned out for you Tishawn.
Thanks again guys

All the posts have great information that i will keep in mind.

We decided to continue working together without the confidentiality contract signed. However, I was in the process of making the edits to send to her for signing, but never sent it to her due to the issues arising and realized that there is a HUGE possibility that we may not continue after the contract expires (which was the case). However, if she was not going to make the edited corrections, then I would not sign the contract, and would have had to terminate the contract sooner.

I also have my own terms of service and NDA that I use.

I have my own that includes a non disclosure policy that will protect the both of us. My client signs it.

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Alyssa Avant
http://alyssaavant.com/