Need a lawer...... (17)

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Thu 18 Jun 09, 7:10 PM
countess_de_jager
UK, 23 mths
£
I have a client. I need to get some kind of contract. I need to be excursed of all responsibility. It's consensual. I'm doing what's asked of me. When he goes home and the reality of what he as asked for comes to the fore. I need to be covered. Can this be done? Please email me.
Thank you

18 Jun 09, 7:13 PM
Lady_Anna_Bradford
UK(BD), 3 yrs
£

countess_de_jager wrote:
Need a lawer......
I have a client. I need to get some kind of contract. I need to be excursed of all responsibility. It's consensual. I'm doing what's asked of me. When he goes home and the reality of what he as asked for comes to the fore. I need to be covered. Can this be done? Please email me.
Thank you

In a word 'NO'.

"If no sexual offence is being committed it seems very odd indeed that there should be an offence for having an image of something which was not an offence," Lord Wallace of Tankerness
http://www.ladyanna.co.uk/ http://www.clips4sale.com/store/26308

18 Jun 09, 8:03 PM
Bubbles_2
UK(E), 4 yrs
No, indeed no. A contract will not cover you.
Club Subversion Crossing the Rubicon FleursduMal bobette's Facebook Beginners Guide to BDSM

18 Jun 09, 8:33 PM
Susan_Williams
UK(CH), 11 mths
Y!
In English contract law there has to be a tangible benefit to both parties and both parties are equally responsible to the other in ensuring that both parties receive the benefit they contracted for, otherwise it is an unenforceable contract.
The law has not yet recognised that being beaten, humiliated, cut, electrocuted, enslaved and a multitude of other things one person can do to another in the BDSM field is a tangible benefit.
If you cause harm that goes beyond transient and trivial no legal contract is going to absolve you from responsibility, no matter how much the other person pleaded for it. Of course, the judge may take such requests into consideration when passing sentence.
Susan Williams

18 Jun 09, 10:34 PM
GeorgieRyder
UK(M), 15 mths
£

countess_de_jager wrote:
Need a lawer......
I have a client. I need to get some kind of contract. I need to be excursed of all responsibility. It's consensual. I'm doing what's asked of me. When he goes home and the reality of what he as asked for comes to the fore. I need to be covered. Can this be done? Please email me.
Thank you

Lady Anna answer was spot on. The answer is that simple NO you will not be covered.
The law has not caught up yet and no protection is available as it will be deemed assault either ABH or GBH depending on the activity. No contract will cover you as a defence. Not worth the paper it is written on comes to mind even if you are looking at mitigation.
The only time consensual intent is taken into account is with regard to sexual assault offences. Then the consensual nature should get it dropped out re certain activies eg cbt .....
Hope that helps .... ...
"initium sapientiae timor poenae ignorantiae"
Edited 19 Jun 09, 8:07 AM by GeorgieRyder

18 Jun 09, 10:35 PM
Mistress_Lady_Julia
UK(LN), 14 mths
£ Y!
Even if you can find a contract that you can be told is going to protect you
Are you sure you really want to put yourself in the position of having to explain it in court and produce the contract and then hope it is as foolproof as you thought..after you have paid your lawyer and spent hours worrying about it all and of course taken time out of your life to get the contract drawn up, attend court, fight of the reporters ...

19 Jun 09, 8:45 AM
Mistress_Sapphire
UK(NW), 8 yrs
Even if the contract was written on the finest vellum.......the paper would be worth more than the text!

19 Jun 09, 6:05 PM
subtler
UK, 19 mths
I'm quite curious about what's being contemplated here.
If you're planning to do something which you think the client may later regret deeply and feel pretty unhappy about, might there not be some personal sense of responsibility involved, regardless of the legal situation?
Submissions: some perverse verses
Edited 19 Jun 09, 6:06 PM by subtler

19 Jun 09, 8:38 PM
harry_lon
UK(W), 5 yrs

Love that IC 'can't do' attitude...
Yes, a 'contract' is pointless/ineffective for some things: for others it *might* be of some use.
If what you're contemplating would be chargeable as wounding or grievous bodily harm then no paper will protect you against criminal charges: if chargeable as actual bodily harm also probably no help. For common assault/battery might be helpful. Not that the OP actually mentioned contemplating criminal charges.
A paper - 'contract' may not be the right word, but let's not split hairs, is simply evidence of what the parties were contemplating, and agreed, at the outset. What they then do may or may not fall within those preliminary agreements: that 'agreement to consent' may or may not continue throughout whatever it is they do do. A written agreement is unlikely to be irrevocably binding in the way a commercial or other contract is, but it's impossible to say without looking at the specifics.
So where might a 'paper' be potentially useful? Examples:
Scat play, kidnap scenarios, force femme/public humiliation games, imprisonment/detention.
All of those could have a client freaking out at the time or afterwards, and a clear agreement could be an adequate defence against civil proceedings or criminal at the low-end common assault type charge.
A lawyer is unlikely to be of much help, simply because each client would need a separate document outlining what he specifically requested and contemplated consenting to: a generic 'disclaimer' would be of little evidential value. There is no specific format requirement for such a document - it simply needs to be clear and unambiguous. Also the fact that the client knows he signed something and you only did what he asked for might dissuade him from starting down the complaint path to begin with.
FWIW I agree with what is implied in some of the replies, that you're better off relying on 'knowing your client' and acting with empathy than on bits of paper

I'll never regret this, ...although I may rue and lament it

19 Jun 09, 8:54 PM
Doghouse_Reilly
UK(MK), 4 yrs

I wouldn't think a lawyer would be much use, for the reasons stated above there's not a lot a lawyer or a contract can do in the courts.
That said a clearly worded contract, just to sort of reiterate what the client wants, so he can see it written down and then really think about it could be useful. And it would also be something to remind him of afterwards that he did agree, knowingly, if he did get all upset. Again it wouldn't be a cast iron guarantee of anything, just possibly helpful.
To be honest though if you're that worried about it you might be better off giving it a miss anyway. End of the day you're a professional, so you've got to make the decision if the money is really worth the risks and potential problems.
All that is required for the triumph of evil is for Chuck Norris to change sides.

21 Jun 09, 3:04 PM
Sir_Stephen_London
UK(NW), 10 mths
£

countess_de_jager wrote:
Need a lawer......
I have a client. I need to get some kind of contract. I need to be excursed of all responsibility. It's consensual. I'm doing what's asked of me. When he goes home and the reality of what he as asked for comes to the fore. I need to be covered. Can this be done? Please email me.
Thank you

It sounds like you're contemplating something pretty serious, so the above answers would be right, no.
A 'contract' to kill someone if they ask you to is no help. Work back from there.
Maybe an interesting question is what else can you do? What safety devices can you give yourself? What would he actually not want to 'trade' if he changes his mind? (think consensual blackmail)
S.
Sir Stephen http://www.sirstephen.co.uk

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