HALL ELLIS LIMITED

Leigh Ellis is a rare gem who understands modern software development and commercial law equally well.

This is important for technical people like myself, as it makes communication much easier and less time-consuming. In other words, he understood the core issues without spending much time on the clock charging me to work out the technology involved. He knew how it worked without me having to explain it.

To be frank, Leigh started giving me sound advice immediately after my initial email, before I had even engaged his company to help me. That built an enormous amount of trust, as I could see that his replies were laser-focused.

My business had a complex technology ownership issue with a customer, as we had worked together for 15 years but had not formalised our relationship, which caused insecurities for both sides regarding who owned what and how to disconnect our services if necessary. Leigh helped me formalise our relationship into a contract and create a structured asset list with a safe handover schedule, which would properly protect both me and my client and ensure continuity and optionality. Leigh pointed out several other aspects of our relationship and helped to formalise those as well.

What I additionally liked was that Leigh allowed me to do a lot of the work myself to cut costs, so that a small business like mine would not spiral into a bottomless pit of legal costs. Also, his projection of legal costs was accurate, which I appreciated.
Leigh is not cheap, but if you want to tailor a contract that can truly protect both parties and create confidence on both sides, then I recommend investing a few grand more rather than relying on a general template-based contract.

When I got the contract, the more I read it, the more I realised that the solution they proposed was quite clever and very smooth. It just made sense. It was the sort of contract that seriously professional businesses use. In many ways, the IT contract they produced increased the authority of my business.

The end result was thoughtful, well structured, and protective of my business. They did what needed to be done to get the situation behind us.

This is how it should be.

The relationship I had with my largest software development client went south and I didn't have a written contract. They threatened to sue and I didn't have the legal experience to assess the situation and understand how strong their case was or if they were simply trying to bully me. The storm blew over but it was an incredibly stressful situation and I never want to be in that position again.

Going forward, I knew I needed proper written agreements. I tried doing it myself with AI tools, but that didn't stop the nagging doubts about whether they would actually hold up, and it left me in a state of eternal paranoia and anxiety.

To fix this, I sent my drafts to Hall Ellis. They found the AI-generated contracts were sub-standard and wouldn't do the job I needed. They rewrote them with proper legal precision.
The contracts they wrote for me have been an immense help to my business. They help me avoid problem clients before I even start working with them, and set a professional standard when working with my normal clientele. I don’t let bullies push me around any more.

I no longer worry about legal hypotheticals. I know exactly what my legal obligations are and can get on with the work at hand.

We needed some urgent advice on an IT services contract after our support company abandoned us after nearly 20 years.

We had an existential level business crisis and needed some legal guidance.

These solicitors helped us get on the right track quickly. They set our focus on what was important for the business, rather than treat it all as a legal problem. It was a refreshing difference. I would highly recommend Leigh Ellis. He was thorough, professional and got to the heart of the issue quickly.

I recently engaged Hall Ellis Solicitors to look over a contract I had been asked to sign to take up what looked to be a potentially lucrative business opportunity. This was my first experience dealing with the legalities of a contract.

Leigh took me to areas of concern in the contract and explained them in plain, understandable English what I needed to know. That included provisions that didn’t cause me much concern when I read them, but were important to where I wanted to get to. He explained the bombs in it too and what they would mean to me once I signed it. That ended up changing my opinion of the opportunity.

I was under severe time pressure. He was able to turn it around in quick time. It was a brilliant experience throughout – he told me before we started what would be involved, what it would cost and timing of delivery. He stuck to all them. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend Leigh or Hall Ellis to anyone who needs tech related legal services.

I was asked to provide some sort of draft contract to a potential client. This would be the beginning of a commercial arrangement. I wanted to structure the commercial terms, and needed a second opinion or someone to talk to who could help to do it. I needed someone who had experience with legally doing that. I have never really had a good experience with people legally. They rarely understand software, so it quickly becomes difficult to explain the issues I think I need to consider. Leigh seemed to know what he as on about. We talked through different options and came up with a contract to licence the software that works for my business. Leigh also helped with handling questions from the customer, which were important for us to get right first time.