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Questions to ask a lawyer about your first customer contract

Dealing with a first customer contract? Describe it in your own words, and Tellbrief turns your answers into a short brief with the questions worth asking and the records to have ready, so your first call with a lawyer starts further ahead.

For example: Selling by signed agreement, with renewals, and some work made by outside people. A brief for this founder suggests the lists below.

Questions worth asking

  1. What should our terms with customers cover before the first one signs?
  2. Does the company own what contractors and early contributors made?Under U.S. copyright law, a contractor owns the copyright in what they make unless it falls in one of nine narrow categories with a signed agreement, or they sign it over in writing.1,2
  3. What personal information do we collect, and does our privacy notice match it?About 1,822 data-privacy class actions were filed in 2025, up from 1,488 in 2024.3
  4. Do our renewal and cancellation terms meet the rules where we sell?Within a few weeks in 2025, at least 12 class actions were filed against online retailers over renewal terms. The FTC and California prosecutors each reached $7.5 million settlements.4

Records to have ready

  • The contract your customers sign todayIt shows how you sell now.
  • Agreements with contractors and other contributorsPeople outside the company may have made work you rely on.
  • Your privacy policy and a list of services that handle customer dataYou collect personal information.

Your brief builds its own lists from your answers.

Build your own brief

About 30 questions, most of them one tap. No account and no card during early access. Tellbrief isn’t a law firm and doesn’t give legal advice.

Start your brief

Questions founders ask

What questions should I ask a lawyer about a first customer contract?

For the founder in this example, the brief suggests: What should our terms with customers cover before the first one signs? Does the company own what contractors and early contributors made? What personal information do we collect, and does our privacy notice match it? Do our renewal and cancellation terms meet the rules where we sell? Your own brief builds its list from your answers.

What should I have ready before the first call?

For this example: The contract your customers sign today; Agreements with contractors and other contributors; Your privacy policy and a list of services that handle customer data. Your own brief lists what fits your answers.

Is this legal advice?

No. Tellbrief organizes your information so the first conversation with your lawyer starts further ahead. It isn’t a law firm, and using it doesn’t make anyone your lawyer. Legal advice comes from a licensed lawyer, once they agree to take on your matter.

What does it cost?

Your brief is free during early access, with no card and no account. If you’d like Jordan to take on the work, he reads your answers first, then talks through the scope and his fee with you before any work starts. Tellbrief takes no share of it.

How long does it take?

About 30 questions once the names are cleared, and most take one tap. Plan on 10 to 15 minutes.

Other situations

  1. 17 U.S.C. § 101, “work made for hire” (opens in a new tab).
  2. 17 U.S.C. § 204(a) (opens in a new tab). Sources 5 and 7–11 are from the Cornell Legal Information Institute. General information, not legal or tax advice.

What’s in your brief

One page that sums up your situation, then every answer you gave. It’s yours to keep and to take to any lawyer.

  1. The basics at a glance: what the business is, its stage, whether it’s formed and where it sells. Plus what’s changing, in one line.
  2. Your question for your lawyer, plus a few more worth asking, picked from your answers.
  3. Records to have ready, based on your answers. Send them only if your lawyer asks.
  4. Every answer you gave, grouped by topic. The reviewing lawyer also gets a private note on where to look first.

Open a sample brief (opens in a new tab) PDF · made-up company

  • Duane Morris Class Action Review, data privacy filings (January 2026) (opens in a new tab).
  • Benesch, automatic renewal compliance (September 2025) (opens in a new tab).