Independent Contractor Agreements: Drafting Enforceable Service Contracts

Independent contractor agreements represent critical legal instruments governing relationships between businesses and freelance service providers across virtually every industry. As organizations increasingly rely on flexible talent—with over 59 million Americans performing freelance work in 2023 representing 36% of the workforce—properly drafted independent contractor agreements serve multiple essential functions: establishing clear service expectations and deliverables, protecting intellectual property and confidential information, defining payment terms and dispute resolution procedures, and most critically, documenting the independent nature of the relationship to withstand worker classification challenges from tax agencies, labor departments, and misclassification litigation.