Handle confidentiality and publicity

Clients expect their information will be kept confidential, and you should have the same expectation of your own information. This applies to the project work you do for them, the business information you learn during the engagement, and anything related to your contracting arrangement. Your client should be held to similar standards where they can’t disclose to others anything about your operations, pricing, and methods. Also, be explicit about what can or cannot be shared about your engagement. Companies like pharmaceutical, healthcare, and financial services firms have confidentiality requirements for patient or customer personal information, as well. Understand the requirements for handling confidential information and the consequences of a confidentiality breach. Not only can that breach void your contract, it can also subject you to stiff penalties and damages. Confidentiality provisions often survive termination of the contract. These provisions can last for two to 10 years after a contract termination. As far as publicity goes, it’s always tempting to tell the world that you landed a huge client. You want to slap their logo all over your website and your promotional materials to show how great your firm is. Your contract may have provisions in it governing your ability to include your client’s name, logo, or information about your work with them on publicly available material. It’s best to always secure written permission from your client to display their logo on your site and in your promotional materials. Most clients are fine with having their name or logo used but prefer not to have specifics about your engagement disclosed. Just be sure to get your publicity efforts cleared before pursuing them. The safest approach on confidentiality and publicity is to disclose as little as possible in the public domain, and when you do share something, get your client’s permission to do so first.