Terms of Service

The Language Firm, [LEGAL ENTITY NAME, e.g., The Language Firm LLC] languagefirm.org

Version: 2.0

Effective Date: September 29, 2026

These Terms of Service ("Terms") govern your use of the services offered by [LEGAL ENTITY NAME] ("The Language Firm," "Company," "we," "us," or "our"). By signing a proposal, order form, or statement of work, issuing a purchase order, or paying an invoice for any Service, you agree to these Terms.

1. Services Covered

These Terms apply to the following services (the "Services"). Each is described at its linked page and priced in the applicable proposal, order form, or statement of work.

The Language Detective (languagedetective.languagefirm.org) Professional learning for educators, offered as:

  • the Full Sequence: five courses, 12.5 contact hours, with portfolio and defense

  • the Compressed Consult: one to four shorter courses

The Governance Policy Consultation (governancepolicyconsultation.languagefirm.org)

  • Policy Audit and Development

  • Development of Procurement Criteria

  • Leadership Guidance

  • the Policy Rollout Training add-on

Vendor Vetting & Ongoing Protection (vendorvetting.languagefirm.org)

  • the Primary Engagement: a one-time Forensic Read™ of vendor terms

  • the optional Primary Retainer: ongoing drift monitoring, available only after a completed Primary Engagement

Community & Faith Engagements (communityandfaith.languagefirm.org)

  • Introductory Briefing

  • Community Workshop

  • Faith-Community Session

  • Meeting Prep Packet

  • Ongoing Advisory Support

2. Definitions

  • "Client" or "you" means the school, district, organization, congregation, or other entity that engages the Company, and any individual acting on its behalf.

  • "Forensic Read™" means the Company's method of forensic linguistic analysis of vendor, policy, and regulatory language. Wherever these Terms describe the Company's analysis, this is the method meant.

  • "Deliverables" means the written materials the Company produces for you under an engagement. Examples include findings memos, vendor analyses, criteria frameworks, drift alerts, handouts, slide decks, and follow-up summaries.

  • "Client Materials" means documents, data, and information you provide to the Company.

  • "Company Materials" means the Company's methods, templates, frameworks, course content, instruments, and pre-existing works, including the Forensic Read™ method and the Foundational AI Primer.

  • "Engagement Documents" means any proposal, order form, statement of work, purchase order accepted by the Company, or data processing or privacy agreement executed for a Service.

3. Independence

The Company is paid only by the parties that make decisions about vendors: districts, schools, community organizations, and similar clients. It is never paid by the vendors whose language it analyzes.

The Company does not accept payment, sponsorship, referral fees, or other compensation from any vendor whose products or terms it reviews. No vendor has a right to review, approve, or alter the Company's findings.

4. Eligibility, Authority, and Order of Precedence

Authority. If you engage the Services on behalf of an entity, you represent that you have authority to bind that entity.

Order of precedence. If documents conflict, they control in this order:

  1. an executed data processing or privacy agreement

  2. a statement of work

  3. an order form or accepted proposal

  4. these Terms

A purchase order is accepted as authorization to proceed. Pre-printed terms on a purchase order do not modify these Terms unless the Company agrees to them in writing.

5. Fees, Invoicing, and Payment

Pricing. Fees are as stated on the applicable service page at the time of the proposal, or as set out in the Engagement Documents. The Governance Policy Consultation carries a minimum engagement of $3,500. Leadership Guidance hours beyond the included sessions are billed at the published hourly rate.

Invoicing. Unless the Engagement Documents state otherwise:


  • One-time engagements are invoiced [50% on signature and 50% on delivery of the final Deliverable / in full on signature].

  • Retainers are invoiced at the start of each billing period.

Invoices are due within thirty (30) days of issue.

Payment methods. The Company accepts [purchase order and invoice, ACH, check, and card]. [If card payments are accepted: Card payments are processed by Stripe.]

Taxes. Applicable taxes are your responsibility unless you are exempt and provide documentation.

Procurement. You are responsible for determining that your procurement rules are satisfied, including any rules that apply to federal funds. Statements on the Company's service pages about price thresholds are informational and are not a procurement determination.

6. Scheduling and Rescheduling of Sessions

This section applies to scheduled sessions, including courses, workshops, briefings, working sessions, and preparation calls.

  • Rescheduling with notice. You may reschedule a session without charge by giving at least [ten (10) business days'] written notice.

  • Late cancellation. A session cancelled or rescheduled with less notice is subject to a fee of [50%] of that session's fee. Alternatively, at the Company's discretion, it may be rescheduled once.

  • No-show. A session is treated as delivered if you do not attend and gave no notice.

  • Company rescheduling. If the Company must reschedule, it will offer the earliest mutually available date at no additional cost. If no date can be agreed within [sixty (60) days], you will receive a refund for that session.

  • Travel costs. Travel, lodging, and third-party costs already incurred on your behalf are non-refundable.

7. Retainers: Renewal and Cancellation

This section applies to the Primary Retainer and to Ongoing Advisory Support.

Renewal. Retainers renew automatically at the end of each billing period (monthly, quarterly, semester, or twelve months, as selected) unless cancelled as described below. The Company will send a reminder at least [thirty (30) days] before any twelve-month renewal and before any change in price.

Cancellation. Send written notice to [contact email] at least [thirty (30) days] before the end of the current billing period. Cancellation stops future billing. Services continue through the end of the paid period.

Prepaid twelve-month retainers. A twelve-month prepayment is billed at ten months of the monthly rate. If you cancel a prepaid term early, the Company will refund the unused portion, calculated by [subtracting the full monthly rate for each month or partial month already served from the amount prepaid].

Primary Retainer baseline. The Primary Retainer measures change against the vendor terms reviewed in your completed Primary Engagement. If you sign a new or materially amended agreement with a monitored vendor, a new Primary Engagement for that vendor may be required before monitoring continues.

8. Refunds for One-Time Engagements

Fees for one-time engagements are non-refundable once work has begun or a Deliverable has been provided, except as set out in Section 6 (Company rescheduling) or required by law.

If you cancel before work begins, the Company will refund amounts paid, less any non-recoverable costs.

9. Your Materials and Responsibilities

Ownership. You keep all rights in your Client Materials. You grant the Company a limited, non-exclusive license to use them solely to perform the Services.

Your responsibilities. You are responsible for:

  • having the right to share your Client Materials with the Company

  • complying with laws and policies that apply to you

  • not sharing information the Company has not asked for (see Sections 10 and 11)

Session participants. Participants in any course, workshop, or session should not share student records, or images or screenshots that contain student information, with the Company or with other participants.

10. Student Data (Education Clients)

This section applies to Services delivered to schools and districts.

Default rule. The Company's method analyzes vendor, policy, and regulatory language. It does not require student records. The Company does not request or accept student records or personally identifiable information from education records.

Inadvertent receipt. If the Company receives student information inadvertently, it will:

  1. notify you within [five (5) business days]

  2. not use or disclose the information

  3. securely delete it, and confirm the deletion to you in writing

Where student data is necessary. If a specific engagement requires student data, the Company will not receive it until a data processing or privacy agreement meeting the requirements of applicable law has been executed. Depending on the client, applicable law may include:

  • FERPA

  • California Education Code § 49073.1 and SOPIPA (Business and Professions Code § 22584)

  • New York Education Law § 2-d

  • other state student privacy laws

Commitments. The Company does not sell student data, use it for targeted advertising, build profiles from it, or use it to train artificial intelligence models.

11. Confidentiality (All Clients)

The Company treats non-public Client Materials as confidential. It uses them only to perform the Services and protects them with reasonable safeguards.

The Company will not disclose confidential Client Materials except in these cases:

  • to subprocessors under Section 12

  • as required by law

  • with your consent

For community and faith clients, this includes any personal information about members, congregants, or residents that appears in documents you share, such as for a Meeting Prep Packet.

12. Subprocessors and AI Tools

The Company uses a limited set of third-party service providers to operate its business, including:

  • [email and document storage, e.g., Google Workspace]

  • [payment processing, e.g., Stripe]

  • [AI-assisted drafting or analysis tools: name the provider(s)]

AI tools. [Choose one: (a) Client Materials may be processed by the AI tools listed above under settings that do not permit the provider to use them for model training. All findings are reviewed and issued by the Company. (b) Client Materials are not entered into third-party AI tools.]

Changes. A current list of subprocessors is available on request. The Company will notify retainer clients of material changes.

13. Advisory Nature of the Services

Advisory only. Deliverables are advisory findings produced through the Forensic Read™. They are not:

  • legal advice or legal opinions

  • certifications, attestations, or regulated audits

  • a guarantee of any compliance outcome or regulatory determination

No legal advice. The Company does not provide legal advice or legal representation. The Company does not independently verify facts that third parties assert in the documents it analyzes.

Your decisions. Decisions about contracts, policies, and compliance remain yours, made in consultation with your counsel and leadership.

Specific Services.

  • Vendor Vetting. A recommendation (Proceed, Proceed with conditions, Clauses for negotiation, or Decline) reflects the vendor's language as of the review date. The decision to contract is yours.

  • The Language Detective. The Company documents contact hours. Whether continuing education or graduate credit is granted is decided by the credentialing body, not the Company.

  • Community & Faith Engagements. Talking points, issue summaries, and document review help you prepare. They are not legal representation or advocacy before any public body.

14. Intellectual Property

Company Materials. The Company retains all rights in Company Materials, including the Forensic Read™ method and marks.

Deliverables. On payment, the Company grants you a perpetual, irrevocable, royalty-free license to use, copy, and share the Deliverables within your organization and with your governing body, counsel, auditors, and regulators. Any Company Materials embedded in a Deliverable are licensed on the same terms, as part of that Deliverable.

What you may not do. You may not sell Deliverables or Company Materials, or use them to provide services to third parties.

Participant work. Work that participants create in The Language Detective (portfolios, memos, findings sheets, analyses, and BUILD artifacts) belongs to the participant, or to the participant's employer where the employer's policies provide so. The Company claims no rights in it.

Public records. The Company acknowledges that Deliverables provided to public agencies may be subject to disclosure under public records laws. Disclosure required by those laws does not breach these Terms.

Trademarks. You may not use the Company's name or marks to imply endorsement without written permission, except to identify the Services factually.

15. Published Analyses and Corrections

This section applies if the Company publishes analyses of vendor documents.

  • Each published analysis reflects the documents as they existed on a stated review date and cites its sources.

  • Published analyses express the Company's analysis and opinion.

  • Anyone who believes a published analysis contains a factual error may write to [contact email]. The Company will review the request and publish a dated correction where warranted.

16. Acceptable Use

You agree not to:

  • use the Services to violate any law

  • share information you do not have the right to share

  • misrepresent a Deliverable as a legal opinion, certification, or audit

  • misrepresent a Deliverable as having been produced for, or endorsed by, a party other than you

17. Disclaimers

Except as expressly stated in these Terms, the Services and Deliverables are provided without warranties of any kind, express or implied, including warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement, to the extent permitted by law.

18. Limitation of Liability

To the extent permitted by law:

  • Neither party is liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages.

  • The Company's total liability for all claims relating to the Services will not exceed the fees you paid for the Service giving rise to the claim in the twelve (12) months before the claim arose.

These limits do not apply to liability that cannot be limited under applicable law, including liability for gross negligence or willful misconduct.

19. Indemnification

By the Company. The Company will indemnify you against third-party claims arising from:

  • the Company's breach of Sections 10, 11, or 12

  • a claim that a Deliverable infringes a third party's intellectual property rights

By you. To the extent permitted by law, you will indemnify the Company against third-party claims arising from:

  • your Client Materials

  • your breach of these Terms

Nothing in this section requires a public entity to provide an indemnity that its governing law prohibits.

20. Term, Termination, and Return of Materials

Termination for breach. Either party may terminate an engagement if the other party materially breaches these Terms and does not cure the breach within thirty (30) days of written notice.

Suspension. The Company may suspend Services for invoices more than [sixty (60) days] past due.

Effect of termination. On termination or completion of an engagement:

  • You pay for Services performed through the termination date.

  • Within thirty (30) days of your written request, the Company will return or securely destroy your Client Materials and confirm this in writing.

  • The Company may keep billing records and one archival copy of Deliverables as required by law or professional recordkeeping. These remain subject to Section 11.

21. Changes to These Terms

The Company will post any revised Terms with a new version number and effective date, and will keep prior versions available at https://www.languagefirm.org/terms-of-service.

Material changes. The Company will give at least thirty (30) days' notice of material changes by email to active clients.

When changes apply. Changes do not apply to an engagement already in progress. For retainers, changes apply at the next renewal.

22. Governing Law and Venue

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of California, excluding conflict-of-law rules. Disputes will be brought in the state or federal courts located in Alameda County, California.

Exception for public entities. If you are a public entity whose governing law requires a different governing law or venue, that law and venue apply.

23. General

  • Severability. If any provision is unenforceable, the rest remain in effect.

  • Assignment. Neither party may assign these Terms without the other's written consent. The Company may assign them to a successor entity, including an affiliated nonprofit, on notice to you, provided the successor assumes all of the Company's obligations.

  • Waiver. Failure to enforce a provision is not a waiver of that provision.

  • Force majeure. Neither party is liable for delays caused by events beyond its reasonable control.

  • Entire agreement. These Terms, together with the Engagement Documents, are the entire agreement between the parties regarding the Services.

24. Contact

For questions about these Terms, cancellation, corrections, or data requests:

Email: [jcs@thelanguagefirm.org] Website: languagefirm.org