{"id":4444,"date":"2020-11-02T10:21:28","date_gmt":"2020-11-02T08:21:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ita.org.il\/?p=4444"},"modified":"2020-11-02T10:22:45","modified_gmt":"2020-11-02T08:22:45","slug":"on-client-agreements-mr-green-and-payment-enforcement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ita.org.il\/en\/on-client-agreements-mr-green-and-payment-enforcement\/","title":{"rendered":"On Client Agreements, Mr. Green, and Payment Enforcement"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Emanuel Weisgras<\/a><\/p>\n

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I\u2019ve said it a million times. An oral agreement ain\u2019t worth the paper it\u2019s written on, and nothing is obvious. Perhaps I\u2019m being too subtle. Get it in writing<\/i><\/b>.<\/p>\n

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Every now and again (and usually, several times a year), a colleague will turn to me and ask me how to get a recalcitrant deadbeat client to pay. (In legal parlance \u2013 Mr. Green won\u2019t come in for an interview.) My answer: Next time, get it in writing<\/em><\/strong>.<\/em> I\u2019m not saying I\u2019m perfect. Like many, if not all of you, I also have several regulars with whom I\u2019ve fallen into a routine of sending a quote, they approve, we deliver, and at some point \u2013 they pay (often after a gentle reminder or five). But what about those annoying, often small scale and\/or one-off jobs for clients, or new clients (individuals, small businesses, etc.) with whom we haven\u2019t built a relationship of trust (and payment)? Get it in writing! <\/em><\/strong>(OK, I prefer you get paid up front but that\u2019s hardly common practice.)<\/p>\n

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Putting the commercial terms of any agreement into writing is always the best practice. (And every time we send a quote and a client accepts, we in fact have an agreement, by definition.) Putting the commercial terms of an agreement into writing is so important professionally that the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) international standard on translation services \u2013 ISO 17100:2015, has dedicated a whole section to it (\u00a7 4.4 \u2013 Client TSP Agreement and Appendix B \u2013 Common Commercial Terms for inclusion in a written agreement). It\u2019s a mandatory part of the translation process for certified\/compliant LSPs and\/or TSPs.<\/p>\n

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A written agreement ensures that both you and the client are on notice regarding the material elements of your project agreement, including payment amount and terms.<\/em> Get in in writing!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

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OK; you get my oh-so-subtle point by now, right? So let\u2019s take it a step further and add a local twist. Don\u2019t just get it in writing<\/em><\/strong>; get it signed and in writing<\/u><\/em><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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Whenever we are in that uncomfortable position of having to choose whether to threaten to sue a client for payment, we are confronted with all this this entails (small claims court if possible, the risk of reputational damage if the client counterclaims or makes defensive claims that the work was inferior and that\u2019s why they didn\u2019t pay, even if it\u2019s completely false, etc.). Alternatively, we can simply throw in the towel and write it off, hoping to avoid such clients in the future.<\/p>\n

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But, there\u2019s another way! If getting it in writing is the gold standard<\/u>, getting in writing and signed is the platinum standard<\/u><\/em>. Why? Glad you asked!<\/p>\n

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Israeli law has a unique mechanism for enforcing agreements for payment of a defined (or easily ascertainable) amount when you have a signed written agreement (\u05d4\u05e1\u05db\u05dd \u05e2\u05dc \u05e1\u05db\u05d5\u05dd \u05e7\u05e6\u05d5\u05d1). It\u2019s a name that strikes terror in the hearts of mortals, and with good reason: \u05d4\u05d5\u05e6\u05d0\u05d4 \u05dc\u05e4\u05d5\u05e2\u05dc. <\/strong><\/p>\n

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Israeli law provides for a summary (shortened) proceeding to collect a contractual debt for a defined amount and there is no automatic right to defend against it if you meet the criteria: A signed agreement for a fixed (or easily ascertainable) sum, signed by the other party (the debtor). The penalties for not paying include statutory interest and legal fees. Few people want to risk this, especially if they don\u2019t have a really good defense against such a claim. (For more information on the process, see the Kol Zchut site\u2019s page<\/a> on the subject.)<\/p>\n

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But wait! You\u2019re thinking, \u2018But I don\u2019t have the time or resources to write an agreement for every client!\u2019 But you\u2019re wrong; you most certainly do. What constitutes an agreement is simply an offer + acceptance. Put it in writing with at least the basic terms (i.e. the service provided, delivery terms, amount due, and payment terms as well as any late-payment penalties), and make sure the client signs it and sends it back to you. (If it\u2019s a business, it should be someone of managerial authority and not a clerk or secretary.) In my case, my business\u2019s billing software allows us to generate work orders which we will often send to clients and request a signature and, if applicable, a stamp. If you don\u2019t have this available in whatever software you use (if you use such software), there are several easy and suitable templates you can download online.<\/p>\n

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This quick ounce of prevention will often be worth several<\/em> pounds of cure.<\/p>\n

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So remember (in case I was too subtle): Get it in writing and get it signed.<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

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  Emanuel Weisgras     I\u2019ve said it a million times. An oral agreement ain\u2019t worth the paper it\u2019s written on, and nothing is obvious. Perhaps I\u2019m being too subtle. Get it in writing.   Every now and again (and usually, several times a year), a colleague will turn to me and ask me how […]<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1092,"featured_media":4450,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4444","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ita.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4444","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ita.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ita.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ita.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1092"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ita.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4444"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/ita.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4444\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4455,"href":"https:\/\/ita.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4444\/revisions\/4455"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ita.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4450"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ita.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4444"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ita.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4444"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ita.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4444"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}