What legal work can founders safely DIY?
By SuLe · Updated 18 May 2026
Founders can usually DIY low-stakes, standard documents with good templates — NDAs, simple consultancy agreements, basic website terms and privacy notices, and board minutes from precedents. Keep a lawyer for anything high-stakes: shareholders' and investment agreements, SEIS/EIS-critical work, option schemes, dismissals and anything you sign personally. The line is stakes and how bespoke the document is.
Key facts
- Commonly safe to DIY with good templates: NDAs, simple consultancy agreements, basic website terms and privacy notices, and board minutes.
- Commonly not safe to DIY: shareholders' and investment agreements, SEIS/EIS-critical work, option schemes, dismissals, disputes, and personally-signed warranties.
- Using templates is legal — the risk is fit, not legality.
- DIY documents carry no legal advice privilege; a solicitor's advice can stay confidential in a dispute.
- Template errors surface at due diligence or in a dispute, when they cost most to fix.
What can I safely handle myself?
The standard, low-stakes documents that most startups need early on. Where a generic version is genuinely good enough and the downside of an error is small, DIY with a good template is sensible.
Commonly safe: NDAs, simple consultancy agreements, basic website terms and a privacy notice for a straightforward product, and board minutes drawn from precedents. These are well-trodden, and doing them yourself keeps early legal spend where it belongs.
The key is a good template and a careful read. Read the whole document, not just the fields you fill in — the risk usually lives in the standard clauses, not the blanks.
What should always go to a lawyer?
The high-stakes, bespoke and personal documents. These are where a wrong or missing clause costs far more than the advice would have, and where generic drafting cannot see your specific facts.
Commonly not safe to DIY: shareholders' and investment agreements, anything SEIS/EIS-critical, option schemes such as EMI, dismissals and settlement agreements, disputes, and any warranty or guarantee you sign personally. Each carries real financial or legal exposure.
| Document | DIY? | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| NDA | Yes | Standard, low downside |
| Simple consultancy agreement | Yes | Well-trodden, low variance |
| Basic website terms / privacy notice | Yes, for a simple product | Standard for low-risk processing |
| Board minutes | Yes, from precedents | Procedural, not bespoke |
| Founders' / shareholders' agreement | No | Bespoke control and leaver terms |
| Investment / subscription agreement | No | Warranties, often signed personally |
| EMI or other option scheme | No | Tax-critical; small errors void relief |
| Dismissal / settlement agreement | No | High tribunal and cost exposure |
| Anything SEIS/EIS-critical | No | Conditions are unforgiving |
Where's the dividing line?
Three questions place any document. How high are the stakes if it is wrong? How bespoke does it need to be for your facts? And are you signing it personally?
Low-stakes, standard, non-personal documents sit on the DIY side. The more you answer "high" or "bespoke" — or the moment your own name is on a warranty — the more the balance tips toward a lawyer.
There is also the privilege point. A solicitor's advice attracts legal advice privilege and can stay confidential in a dispute; a template and the notes you make on it cannot. For sensitive matters, that protection alone can justify the fee.
How do I DIY safely?
Use good templates, not the first free document you find, and read every clause as a decision you are adopting for your company. Adapt it to your facts rather than trusting the generic default.
For anything on the fence, buy a fixed-fee review instead of full drafting. You draft from a template, a solicitor checks it, and you keep most of the saving while losing most of the risk.
And keep the truly high-stakes work off your own desk entirely. The cost of getting a shareholders' agreement or a dismissal wrong dwarfs any DIY saving.
Worked example
Kwame builds Pixel Reef Ltd, a mobile gaming studio. He confidently DIYs the standard stuff: NDAs with two contractors, a beta-tester agreement, and basic website terms and a privacy notice from good templates — all appropriate, and he spends nothing on lawyers.
When an early hire has to be let go in their first months, Kwame recognises a dismissal as red-zone work and instructs a solicitor rather than improvising. The lawyer handles the process and paperwork correctly, and no tribunal claim follows. Had he DIY'd the exit, a single procedural misstep could have cost many multiples of the fee. He saved money on the standard documents and spent it where the exposure was real — exactly the right split.
Where founders go wrong
DIYing founder equity and investment terms
— these are bespoke, high-stakes documents where gaps cost most.Improvising a dismissal
— process errors drive tribunal claims; this is not template territory.Filling only the blanks
— the risk usually lives in the standard clauses you skimmed past.Forgetting privilege
— DIY work cannot stay confidential in a dispute the way a solicitor's advice can.
Related questions
Which documents are safe for founders to DIY?
Commonly safe with good templates: NDAs, simple consultancy agreements, basic website terms and a privacy notice for a straightforward product, and board minutes from precedents. These are standard, low-downside documents where a generic version is usually good enough for your situation. [More: Can I use legal templates instead of a lawyer?]
What should never be DIY?
Shareholders' and investment agreements, anything SEIS/EIS-critical, option schemes, dismissals and settlement agreements, disputes, and any warranty or guarantee you sign personally. Here a wrong or missing clause can cost far more than legal advice, and the errors surface at the worst possible time. [More: How do I legally dismiss an employee in a UK startup?]
How do I know which side of the line a document is on?
Ask three questions: how high are the stakes if it is wrong, how bespoke does it need to be for your facts, and are you signing it personally? Low-stakes, standard, non-personal documents are usually safe to DIY; the more you answer "high" or "bespoke", the more you want a lawyer. [More: When should a startup first speak to a lawyer?]
Is DIY legal work actually legal?
Yes. There is no law requiring a solicitor to draft most business documents, so DIY is entirely legal. The risk is fit rather than legality — and you also give up legal advice privilege, since a template and your notes on it cannot stay confidential in a dispute the way a solicitor's advice can.
DIY is a real saving on standard documents and a real risk on the ones that decide your equity, reliefs and exits. A SuLe solicitor can tell you which of your documents you can safely handle yourself and review the ones you cannot, for a fixed fee. Book a free 15-minute consultation
Keep reading: Can I use legal templates instead of a lawyer? · Legal template platforms vs a solicitor — what's the real difference? · When should a startup first speak to a lawyer? · How much do startup lawyers cost in the UK? · Do I need a lawyer for my seed round? · Are NDAs enforceable in the UK — and are they worth it?
Primary sources: Solicitors Regulation Authority
