As of 13 August 2026, AI can only partly check a freelance contract before signing it.

What to actually do

1. Hand it to a person

   The route this page recommends

   Someone with a licence or accountable authority has to sign this before it counts.

2. Use a tool built for this

   Second choice

3. Do it yourself

   The distant third

   A chat interface, chat-fluent skill, and roughly 1 hour until you can act on the result.

   How to actually do it

   1. Open the complete contract and save a copy, including schedules, statements of work, appendices and any terms linked from it.
   2. Remove bank details, personal addresses, signatures and other unnecessary private information, then paste the full remaining contract into the prompt.
   3. Fill in the work, client location, fee, payment schedule, deliverables, deadlines and your concerns so the model can distinguish missing context from missing contract wording.
   4. Paste the prompt into a chatbot and ask it to quote each flagged clause with its heading or clause number rather than relying on a summary.
   5. Compare every quotation and factual statement in the response with the saved contract, and mark any invented or misread wording.
   6. Turn the flagged points into a short list of proposed amendments and questions to send to the client, without treating the model's view of enforceability as settled.
   7. Send the complete contract, the flagged clauses and the proposed changes to a UK solicitor for advice on serious payment, intellectual property, liability, restrictive covenant or termination risks before signing.

   Prompt

   I am a freelancer in the UK. Check the contract below before I sign it, but do not present your response as legal advice. This is not professional advice.
   
   First, identify the parties, services, payment terms, expenses, deadlines, acceptance criteria, intellectual property ownership, confidentiality, data protection duties, warranties, liability cap, indemnities, insurance requirements, termination rights, notice periods, restrictive covenants, dispute jurisdiction and any automatic renewal. Quote the relevant wording for every issue you identify and give the clause number or heading.
   
   Then produce four sections:
   1. Plain-English summary of what I would be agreeing to.
   2. Clauses that are unusually one-sided, unclear, missing or risky for a freelancer, explaining the practical consequence without claiming that a clause is definitely enforceable or unenforceable.
   3. Questions and specific changes I could raise with the client, keeping the wording professional and commercially realistic.
   4. A list of points that require review by a UK solicitor before signing.
   
   Separate facts stated in the contract from assumptions. Do not invent facts, deadlines, prices or legal rules. Do not say that the contract is safe, fair, valid or enforceable. If information is missing, say exactly what is missing. Pay particular attention to when I get paid, whether payment depends on client approval, who owns work before and after payment, unlimited liability, broad indemnities, termination without payment, exclusivity, non-compete wording and rights to use my portfolio.
   
   My work and circumstances:
   - Services: [describe the work]
   - Client type and location: [details]
   - Proposed fee and payment schedule: [details]
   - Deliverables and deadlines: [details]
   - My main concerns: [details]
   
   Contract:
   [PASTE THE COMPLETE CONTRACT HERE]

   Open it prefilled in ChatGPT or Claude, or copy it into Gemini, which takes no prefill link.