Legal toolkit for Cardano ecosystem: Set of standard well-balanced contracts

[GENERAL] Name and surname of main applicant

Andrej Solar on behalf of Sparring

[GENERAL] Are you delivering this project as an individual or as an entity (whether formally incorporated or not)

Entity (Incorporated)

[GENERAL] Co proposers and Additional applicants

Martin Repka

Tomas Richter Urban

[GENERAL] Please specify how many months you expect your project to last (from 2-12 months)

4

[GENERAL] Please indicate if your proposal has been auto-translated into English from another language.

No

[GENERAL] Summarize your solution to the problem (200-character limit including spaces)

Creating a set of must-have legal documents with neutral jurisdiction (English law based) that would constitute a well-balanced golden industry standard. Ready for use without further negotiations.

[GENERAL] Does your project have any dependencies on other organizations, technical or otherwise?

No

[GENERAL] If YES, please describe what the dependency is and why you believe it is essential for your project’s delivery. If NO, please write “No dependencies.”

No dependencies.

[GENERAL] Will your project’s output/s be fully open source?

Yes

[GENERAL] Please provide here more information on the open source status of your project outputs

Yes, docs will be publicly accessible, downloadable and editable.

[METADATA] SDG rating

This proposal is not related to SDGs.

[SOLUTION] Please describe your proposed solution.

Each project is using some basic legal documentation. Downloaded templates, usually even not fitting the purpose. Imbalanced, favoring the contract proposing party. We will prepare a set of must-have legal documentation that will be a WIN-WIN situation for the stakeholders. Utilizing years of experience working for big software development houses enables us to bring a new perspective of fairness into the contracts. Making it acceptable for both parties.

Good contracts raise the motivation of parties to fulfill their goals. Raising contractual penalties to the clouds does not force the party to act, and neither is it the way of the 21st century.

We will create a must-have set of legal documents that would be general enough to cover all the main issues, creating a highway for your cooperation, work, orders, and invoices to ride it.

Every Company and Individual needs contracts for:

• Clarity and understanding: What parties should deliver
• Legal protection: So you get properly paid/properly own the IP you pay for
• Legal enforcement: If one of the parties does not deliver
• Risk management: Identify and manage potential issues upfront

We will create the following standardized agreements for the adoption by the Cardano Community:

1. Contractor Agreement - Setting an equilibrium between business and freelancers. What to deliver, how to handle bugs, is there something like a software warranty, and more topics;
2. Software Master Service Agreement - B2B contract covering all the main issues: product-based delivery or providing a team. What if the other party doesn’t pay? What if the delivery has bugs or does not meet the specifications? What if the party changes scope on the go? Can they cut the project tomorrow? All accounted for and covered;
3. Service Level Agreement - You service the client long-term. Do I have to react in 6 hours? The client always wants everything for free. What is my responsibility and what is the client's?
4. Non-Disclosure Agreement - You start literally anything with any service provider/potential client/or candidate and you’re already disclosing parts of your business. Some are “just” important, but some are crucial. Once the time comes, you want to stop the dissemination ASAP. You need a strong and easily enforceable NDA.

After the creation of the agreement, we will write a thorough HowTo along with holding Q&A to explain the particularities of the contract.

[IMPACT] Please define the positive impact your project will have on the wider Cardano community.

Cardano users (both individuals and companies) will get access to fundamental legal documentation, raising safety and predictability, and lowering costs in the Cardano ecosystem. A win-win situation for all the stakeholders.

1. The free documentation will save money and time for Cardano individuals and businesses -> easier to start a project (and cheaper) -> more projects -> more revenue for the Cardano ecosystem.
2. Better predictability of projects -> increased project longevity -> more projects -> more revenue for Cardano ecosystem.

The key metrics will be the number of users downloading the templates and the number of total downloads.

The insights and results will be disseminated through our Sparring website and Catalyst’s reporting channels, and other Cardano & Sparring social media channels.

[CAPABILITY & FEASIBILITY] What is your capability to deliver your project with high levels of trust and accountability? How do you intend to validate if your approach is feasible?

Sparring is an international law firm operating in the EU, US and UK, with a dedicated crypto focused practice. We have a long history of providing legal support to a number of projects active on Cardano, such as Vacuumlabs, NuFi, etc. We are servicing crypto clients globally. Our client portfolio includes crypto hedge fund, DEX, DeFi financial center, wealth management platform, digital marketplace and other crypto projects, several of which operate on Cardano. See more at https://sparring.io/crypto/

[Project Milestones] What are the key milestones you need to achieve in order to complete your project successfully?

Create a set of documents (Contractor Agreement, Software MSA, SLA, NDA)

Write a how-to and add an explanation to the structural clauses of the contracts.

Publishing the contracts and holding 2 times 1 hour Q&A sessions.

[RESOURCES] Who is in the project team and what are their roles?

Tomas Richter Urban

Head of Crypto desk of Sparring

Coming from the world of banking, finance and capital markets law, Tomas has become an expert in crypto and fintech. He gained some first hand experience serving as a chief legal officer in a prominent crypto hedge fund. Tomas leads Sparring’s Crypto and Web3 practice.

Martin Repka

Legal Mind

Raised in startups, Martin focuses on IT law, intellectual property and corporate governance. He also assists various early stage blockchain & crypto businesses.

Andrej Solar

Senior Crypto Leal Mind

Andrej is a crypto enthusiast, and blockchain seasoned attorney. He regularly advises high-profile crypto & fintech companies. He serves as a CLO of a crypto wealth management platform on Cardano.

[BUDGET & COSTS] Please provide a cost breakdown of the proposed work and resources.

• Milestone 1: ₳ 44,571 ($ 15,600)
• 12 work-days of legal work

• Milestone 2: ₳ 11,143 ($ 3,900)
• 3 work-days of follow-up explanation documentation

• Final Milestone: ₳ 7,057 ($ 2,470)
• 0.5 work-day - prep for publishing
• 2 hours - Q&A calls
• 1 work-day overhead - project and product management

[VALUE FOR MONEY] How does the cost of the project represent value for money for the Cardano ecosystem?

The project is able to save the entire Cardano ecosystem a significant sum on legal costs by providing a free, standardized set of documents. Further reducing costs of each player of the ecosystem not only through having free direct access to the agreements, but also by establishing a standardized set of documents that reduce the need for haggle over petit clauses.

The whole ecosystem will gain access to Cardano tailored:

• Contractor Agreement
• Software MSA
• NDA
• SLA

The whole project is budgeted at ₳ 62,771. The standard price for (i) Contractor Agreement, (ii) Software MSA, (iii) NDA, and (iv) SLA is somewhere around ₳ 30,000 - 40,000. Utilizing our legal documentation in just three projects already saves a great amount of money for the whole Cardano ecosystem. More money = more projects = more revenue for the Cardano ecosystem.

[IMPORTANT NOTE] The Applicant agrees to Fund Rules and also that data in the submission form and other data provided by the project team during the course of the project will be publicly available.

I Accept