Commission Without a Contract: What Now?
By William F. Zieske, Coco Soodek & Matt Petersen, Attorneys at Law
You would not be the first person to take a commission without a written contract. Asking for a contract signals distrust, and negotiating often involves delays and lawyers. You may have grown accustomed to closing sales with a handshake or an invoice. But there is a vast difference between selling your work off your studio wall and promising a client to create a commissioned work. Your obligations do not end when the buyer walks out the door — that’s just the beginning. And the daunting task of balancing your creative freedom with your client’s expectations might be the least of your worries, if the oral agreement you just made goes sour.
