Smashing eBook_ Professional Workflow for Web Designers - Luke Reimer [12]
Legal Relationship
When you engage with a client as a web designer you officially take part in the service economy – the fastest growing area of international commerce. You become a service provider, and the client a customer or service recipient. This relationship can be compared to a whole variety of service industries, such as a banker providing advice to a client, an IT technician fixing a computer problem, or a gardener trimming the weeds. In each of these, commonalities arise in the relationship that exists, as well as in the responsibilities of each party.
As such a large contributor to the GDP of most developed and developing countries, the services sector falls under significant legal attention and standards of rights and responsibilities. When you as a web developer or web design agency officially enter this arena, it’s important to understand how the fish are swimming in this giant ocean of industry that you will call home.
Rights of Clients
At its most basic, clients have the right to a service which they pay for, or are promised under a legally binding contract. While most enforceable rights that clients hold should be carefully documented in a contractual agreement (which will be discussed shortly), there are several that are taken to be self-evident.
• Courtesy, Consideration, and Respect – without discrimination
• Transparency and honesty
• General quality of work
• Services provided in a timely fashion
• Right to privacy and confidentiality
Responsibilities of Clients
Beyond enforceable rights are responsibilities – these are presented within the context of professional industry and business, and although they can be difficult to enforce or use as grounds for a lawsuit, they are important to the agreeable completion of service transactions.
• To share concerns or questions with the service provider
• To make the service provider aware of situational changes which will affect the project/service
• To provide adequate payment for service in a timely fashion
• To act professionally and courteously
• Honoring agreements and upholding regional standards of business
Duty of Web Designers
Web service providers have similar duties which must be upheld under a service transaction. Imagine a doctor showing up late and providing an incorrect diagnosis to a patient. This example sounds far more serious than web design work, you may think, but what if a mistake on our part caused eventual sales losses of millions of potential revenue dollars, negatively affecting both employees and the company? It’s important to regard ourselves as professional service providers, and to take seriously the rights and responsibilities of all involved.
Breaches of Duty
When a web designer breaches their duty as a service provider there can be a number of consequences ranging in seriousness and impact to your business. A breach of duty can fall under two areas – first, what I’ll call “subjective breach of duty” which holds similarly styled consequences, or second a “breach of contract” which can hold far more serious implications.
For a more expanded definition of the “breach of duty” concept in legal terms, take a look at The Law of Negligence article in Suite101‘s legal articles section.
Subjective Breach of Duty
Such a breach of duty can entail work being completed unreasonably late, at a low standard of quality, employing misleading communication with a client, or any other number of examples stemming from violation of the rights and responsibilities of clients as service recipients. Such breaches can be made in varying degrees, with a correlated degree of consequences ranging from a client no longer using you as a web service provider for future