What is an Instruction?
Version 1.0 · Last updated 30 September 2026
Your plan includes a set number of Instructions a year: 6 on Launch, 12 on Accelerate, 18 on Scale and 24 on Enterprise. This page explains what an Instruction is, what one covers, and what never uses one. By a year we mean your Subscription Term, which runs for 12 months from checkout or from an upgrade that starts a new term.
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Talking to us does not use an Instruction. Questions, calls, check-ins, and a view on a specific clause or point. We call this Guidance, and it is included on every plan on a fair use basis.
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Formal work uses one Instruction. Drafting or reviewing a document for you, formal written advice, or acting for you with someone else, such as the other side in a dispute.
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Nothing is used until you approve it. Before we start formal work your solicitor confirms in the Client Hub: “This is 1 of your 12 Instructions this year.” Until you approve it, nothing has been used.
Everything you ask us to do is one or the other. So the only question you ever need to ask is “Does this count as an Instruction?”, and we always answer before it does.
Everything you ask us to do opens a Matter in the Client Hub. A Matter is the file: it has a solicitor responsible for it, whether you have asked a two-line question or handed us a supplier contract to negotiate. We do not count the Matters open on the Client Hub. We count the formal work you approve, and an Instruction is simply the name for one piece of it.
An Instruction is worth the same whatever the size of the work. It means you never have to guess how much of your allowance a piece of work will take, and it means we have no reason to make a piece of work bigger than it needs to be.
One Instruction covers one piece of work from start to finish, whether we draft it, review it or act for you on it. It does not matter how many rounds it takes.
| Work | One Instruction covers | Finished when |
|---|---|---|
| Drafting a document | Taking your requirements, the first draft, revisions after your comments, and negotiating it with the other side | Signed, or ready for you to use |
| Reviewing a document | Reviewing it, marking it up, explaining the issues, and every round of negotiation | Signed, or you decide not to go ahead |
| A set of related documents | Up to three documents drafted together for one purpose, such as website terms, a privacy notice and a cookie policy, or a shareholders’ agreement, updated articles and the share issue resolutions. A contract with a counterparty, such as a DPA, is its own Instruction. Larger sets are more than one Instruction, or quoted as a fixed fee; your solicitor sets it out before you approve | All delivered |
| Formal written advice | The advice, and your follow-up questions on it | Delivered and your questions answered |
| Pre-action dispute | Assessing your position, the letter before action, all correspondence and calls with the other side, negotiation, and the settlement agreement | Settled, dropped by you, or proceedings issued. Court work is not included on any plan |
| Debt recovery | One debtor, across one or more invoices: the demand, letter before action and repayment plan | Paid, settled, or you decide not to escalate |
| Employment process | The letters and documents for one disciplinary, grievance or redundancy process, with support through to the outcome | Outcome delivered |
| Trade mark | Search, application and filing for one mark, and responses to the registry’s examination | Registered, or you decide to stop |
| Commercial lease | Heads of terms, drafting, negotiating and amending the lease, advice on its key terms, registration where required, and the transaction details for the stamp duty land tax return | Completed and, where required, registered |
When a new Instruction is used
A new Instruction is used only for a new piece of work that you approve: a different document, a different dispute or counterparty, or a distinct piece of work. If a dispute goes quiet for four months and then the other side writes again, it is the same dispute and the same Instruction, as long as your plan continues. Small follow-up changes to something we delivered last month are Guidance. We never use a second Instruction without telling you first.
Sets of documents
Some documents belong together, for instance the terms, privacy notice and cookie policy a website needs, or the shareholders' agreement, new articles and resolutions that bring in a co-founder. Up to three documents drafted together for one purpose count as one Instruction. A fourth starts a second.
Your solicitor will always confirm how many Instructions a set of work would use.
You open a Matter in the Client Hub and tell us what you need. Your solicitor looks at it and confirms whether it is Guidance or an Instruction. If it is an Instruction, the Matter Confirmation sets out what we will do, who will do it, when you can expect it, and how many Instructions you have left.
If you have used all your Instructions for the year, Guidance carries on as normal, and any further formal work is quoted as a fixed fee with your plan discount. If you are getting close and expect a busy year, you can move to a higher plan at any time; the Terms explain how the allowance is topped up under "Moving to a different plan".
In every area the pattern is the same: asking uses nothing, and formal work uses one Instruction for the whole of the work.
| You ask | Instruction? | Why |
|---|---|---|
| “Is clause 9 in this supplier contract normal?” | No Instruction used | Clause check, answered in the Hub |
| “Can you suggest better wording for our payment terms?” | No Instruction used | One clause |
| “Is this NDA OK to sign?” | No Instruction used | A view on the key points |
| “Please mark up this NDA so we can send it back” | One Instruction | Full review with mark-up |
| “Please draft our own NDA template” | One Instruction | Drafting a new document |
| “Please review and mark up this supplier contract” | One Instruction | Full review with mark-up |
| That review, then three rounds of negotiation to signature | One Instruction | Same piece of work, through to signature |
| “Please draft a services agreement for our customers” | One Instruction | Drafting, revisions and negotiation are one piece of work |
| Your customer comes back with changes to the agreement we drafted | No Instruction used | Same Instruction |
| “We need website terms, a privacy policy and a cookie policy for our launch” | One Instruction | A set of up to three documents for one purpose |
| Website terms, privacy policy, cookie policy and a customer DPA | 2 | Three policies are one set; the DPA is a contract |
| A year later: “We need to vary the contract to add a new service” | One Instruction | A new document |
| “One small fix” to a contract we delivered last month | No Instruction used | Follow-up on delivered work |
| You ask | Instruction? | Why |
|---|---|---|
| “Can I dismiss someone with 18 months’ service for poor performance?” | No Instruction used | Guidance |
| “Talk me through how a redundancy process works” | No Instruction used | Guidance |
| “Please prepare the letters and run us through a disciplinary to the outcome” | One Instruction | One process, start to finish |
| “We need a new employment contract template” | One Instruction | Drafting |
| Employment contract and staff handbook drafted together | One Instruction | A set for one purpose |
| “Please draft a settlement agreement for a departing employee” | One Instruction | Drafting and negotiating with their adviser |
| “Can you draft our response to this grievance?” | One Instruction | A formal letter |
| You ask | Instruction? | Why |
|---|---|---|
| “Do we need shareholder approval to issue new shares?” | No Instruction used | Guidance |
| “We’re bringing in a new co-founder: shareholders’ agreement, updated articles and the share issue resolutions” | One Instruction | A set for one purpose |
| “We need a founder agreement between the three of us” | One Instruction | Drafting |
| “We’re raising a funding round. Can you handle the legal side?” | Not an Instruction | Full investment round support is not included on any plan. We quote it as a fixed fee with your plan discount applied |
| You ask | Instruction? | Why |
|---|---|---|
| “Do we need a DPA with this vendor?” | No Instruction used | Yes or no, with reasons |
| “Please draft a DPA for our customers” | One Instruction | Drafting |
| “Can you give us something in writing on our GDPR position for the board?” | One Instruction | Formal written advice |
| “Is our brand name likely to clash with an existing mark?” | No Instruction used | A view |
| “Please search and file a trade mark for our brand” | One Instruction | One mark, through examination |
| “Someone is copying our product. Can you send them a cease and desist letter?” | One Instruction | The letter and the correspondence that follows |
| You ask | Instruction? | Why |
|---|---|---|
| “A customer is threatening to sue. What are my options?” | No Instruction used | Options discussed on a call |
| “Please respond to them and try to settle it” | One Instruction | Acting for you, through to settlement |
| The dispute goes quiet for four months, then the other side writes again | No Instruction used | Same dispute, same Instruction |
| Settlement agreement to close that dispute | No Instruction used | Included in the dispute Instruction |
| A second, unrelated dispute with a different supplier | One Instruction | A new dispute |
| “One customer owes us £8,000 across three invoices” | One Instruction | One debtor, through to payment |
| “A customer owes us £1,200” | No Instruction used | Below the £2,500 threshold: guidance and templates, or a letter as a fixed fee |
| The other side issues court proceedings | No Instruction used | Not included on any plan: we quote a fixed fee or refer you on |
| You ask | Instruction? | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Quarterly check-in that spots an out-of-date employment contract | No Instruction used | The check-in is Guidance |
| “Yes, please redraft it” | One Instruction | Drafting |
This page explains how Instructions work. The Plan Schedule sets out the binding version, including what one Instruction covers, and forms part of our Terms of Service and Engagement. If this page and the Plan Schedule ever say different things, the Plan Schedule applies.