Consultant liability and client relations

As Consultants we provide advice, ideas, technical expertise and are remunerated for such service. In all cases we owe our clients ethical, professional treatment and under some agreement for confidentiality and compensation for work, which is many times defined after consultation begins. Ethical treatment is a two way street and we must protect our interests in the event a client finds fault, real or imagined, with our work. Techniques for liability protection and maintaining client relations are shown. Consultation takes many forms from actual design responsibility for structures or circuits, to business advisories requiring subjective understanding and opinions. The former is usually readily verifiable by analysis and errors are more easily detected and blame assigned. The P.E. is held to a higher standard in design and/or analytical matters and should be insured against the consequences of matters under such a professional's control. But in subjective matters which do not always lead to assurable outcomes, the need for defined agreements for specific clients which anticipates contentious situations is imperative. Some considerations to be addressed in setting up working agreements are listed.