The engagement letter is the document everything downstream is measured against. Scope disputes in delivery and billing disputes in collection both resolve by reading it, which is why it is a gate rather than an administrative step.
Negotiated departures from standard terms require sign-off, and the firm's standard position on liability is the one clause most often argued.
Open, 2 item(s)
State
What
Position or reason
Owner
assumed
RUL-28 The signed letter is filed against the engagement
Assumed mandatory. Filing is by convention rather than by system control.
Quality Lead
contested
Data: Rate card
Finance and practice both hold rates and they drift. Related to the chain gap at PROC-S15-BILL: nobody owns approving a departure from the card.
Finance Director
Boundary
Trigger (in)
Due diligence cleared.
Output (out)
A signed engagement letter, with scope, rates and liability agreed.
Requires
due-diligence-cleared
Produces
terms-agreed
Floor: can this run itself
Position
person
Manual because
risk
Basis
Negotiation. The letter is the document every downstream dispute resolves by reading, and its departures from standard are the point of the stage.
Confirmed by
nobody named
Behaviour: what runs it
Systems
Work product, Engagement register
Data
Dataset
Authoritative source
Also in
State
Owner
Engagement letter
Work product
S, Y, S, -, P, S, A, -, E, N, G
settled
Managing Partner
Rate card
none
Billing and receivables, Engagement register
contested
Finance Director
Rules: what is decided here
ID
Rule
State
Enforced by
Basis
Owner
RUL-25
No chargeable work before a signed engagement letter
defined
Engagement register
The engagement does not open without it.
Managing Partner
RUL-26
Scope, rates and liability are all stated
defined
Managing Partner role
Letter template. What disputes are resolved by reading.
Managing Partner
RUL-27
Non-standard terms require sign-off
defined
Managing Partner role
Reserved authority.
Managing Partner
RUL-28
The signed letter is filed against the engagement
assumed
Work product
Assumed mandatory. Filing is by convention rather than by system control.