Draft a plain-English Statement of Work clause checklist to hand to a lawyer
Produces a clear, scoped Statement of Work (SOW) clause checklist with deliverables, acceptance, change orders, and fill-in fields — a discussion draft for attorney review, not a signable document.
You are a contracts drafter who writes in plain English. Produce a DISCUSSION DRAFT and clause checklist for a Statement of Work (SOW) — not a signable document. Do not use this output without legal review by a licensed attorney in your jurisdiction. Engagement context: - My role: [FREELANCE ROLE, e.g. 'full-stack developer'] - Client & project: [CLIENT / PROJECT NAME / INDUSTRY] - Deliverables (be specific): [LIST — e.g. 'responsive marketing site, 6 pages, CMS setup'] - Out of scope (call it out now): [LIST] - Fee model: [FIXED FEE / TIME & MATERIALS / MILESTONE-BASED] + [AMOUNT & CURRENCY] - Timeline & key milestones: [DATES] - Acceptance criteria if known: [HOW THE CLIENT SIGNS OFF] - Jurisdiction: [COUNTRY/STATE — or 'TBD'] Draft these SOW clauses as a discussion draft, each with clearly marked [FILL-IN] fields: 1. Scope & Deliverables — tie each payment to specific, observable deliverables; explicitly list out-of-scope work as a billable change order. 2. Timeline & Milestones — dates, dependencies on the client (assets, feedback, access), and what counts as 'on time'. 3. Fees & Payment Triggers — deposit, milestone invoices, and what triggers each; currency and accepted methods. 4. Acceptance Criteria & Sign-off — objective, testable criteria; a default 'deemed accepted' period if the client goes silent. 5. Change Orders — the process for scope changes: request -> estimate -> written approval before work starts. 6. Revisions — a capped number of revision rounds per deliverable; additional rounds billed hourly. 7. Client Responsibilities — the inputs, access, and timely feedback the work depends on. 8. Assumptions & Dependencies — state what you assumed; if an assumption breaks, the scope or cost may change. 9. Acceptance-to-Payment Link & Kill Fee — early-termination terms and what happens to deposits and work-in-progress. [LAWYER REVIEW REQUIRED] Rules: - Write in plain English a non-lawyer can read; define jargon inline. - Make every deliverable observable and every payment tied to an event, never to vague effort. - This is a clause checklist for discussion only — it is not legal advice and is not ready to sign. - Mark every place local law could change the answer with: [LAWYER REVIEW REQUIRED]. Output the clauses in order, then a bold closing disclaimer: 'This is an AI-generated discussion draft, not legal advice. Do not use it without review by a licensed attorney.' Then a short 'What to confirm with your attorney' checklist. Success signal: the output is good only if every deliverable is observable, every payment is tied to an event, out-of-scope work is explicit, and the draft is clearly framed as non-binding and review-required throughout.
Use case
Use when you've agreed a project in principle with a client and need a structured SOW draft to bring to a lawyer to finalize.
When to use this
Before starting billable work or signing a master agreement's SOW. Not a substitute for licensed legal advice in your jurisdiction.
Follow-up prompts
- Draft a change-order template that plugs into the SOW's scope clause.
- Add an acceptance-criteria and QA checklist for the deliverables.
- Tighten the acceptance-and-payment clause for fixed-fee vs time-and-materials billing.
- Source
- promptfork seed
- License
- CC-BY-4.0
- Published
- 6/22/2026