Today's Business Leaders with Gabe Arnold
Aug 11, 2026 · 44 min · 8 segments
# Protecting Your Agency: Legal Essentials with Sharon Toerek Running a marketing agency without proper legal protection is like building a house on sand. One contract dispute, one IP claim, or one…
Sharon ToerekGuest
Gabe ArnoldHost
Like I said, I've, I've not, I honestly only know one other firm that is kind of similar in concept, but really more focused just on the IP and not the full spectrum of, you know, what, what agencies run into.
And like, I think we mentioned, we were talking earlier that I've had my agency for 19 years now, and I've gone through a lot of different legal situations.
And so I'm curious, um, You know, you talk about on your site and your LinkedIn profile that, you know, you help agencies with service agreements.
And I've practically been through, you know, plenty of some litigation, some lawsuits, you know, a handful over the years.
At this point, my belief or my experience is that those are inevitable things that are going to happen.
And over the years, I've also mentored and coached some younger agency owners, smaller businesses.
I'm curious how you advise clients when it specifically comes to their service agreement contracts.
And just wondering, how do you approach that? And how do you educate your clients on what does the construction of that agreement look like? And then practically, how should they use it? Because I think anybody can Google and copy and paste a contract, which I always say, don't do that.
But I'd love for you to break down what should that look like? And then practically, how does an agency use that in their day-to-day agreements and contracts and working with their clients? Because that Unfortunately, well, I think all of us that aren't in the legal field can find ourselves like, oh, we'll just start up and figure it out as we go.
And then I've been caught in some pretty tough spots years ago because I didn't really understand what I needed to have in my agreements.
I think the first thing I would say in reaction to that is that our point of view, our fundamental belief at my firm about the role of legal in agency operations is that it's about growing or protecting your top line as much as it is about protecting your bottom line and avoiding risks.
How that shows up in agency client agreements is ensuring that you're negotiating the fairest but most profitable arrangement that you can for a project or a relationship, right? So there's definitely a pattern in some of the issues that we see that need to be pre-considered and reflected in every agreement.
And there are definitely some negotiation strategies that we see on repeat that are helpful to agencies.
The first thing I would say is that, you know, I'll never forget getting kind of taken aside that I was speaking one year at Inbound, which is HubSpot's huge user group conference.
Like I said, I've, I've not, I honestly only know one other firm that is kind of similar in concept, but really more focused just on the IP and not the full spectrum of, you know, what, what agencies run into.
And like, I think we mentioned, we were talking earlier that I've had my agency for 19 years now, and I've gone through a lot of different legal situations.
And so I'm curious, um, You know, you talk about on your site and your LinkedIn profile that, you know, you help agencies with service agreements.
And I've practically been through, you know, plenty of some litigation, some lawsuits, you know, a handful over the years.
At this point, my belief or my experience is that those are inevitable things that are going to happen.
And over the years, I've also mentored and coached some younger agency owners, smaller businesses.
I'm curious how you advise clients when it specifically comes to their service agreement contracts.
And just wondering, how do you approach that? And how do you educate your clients on what does the construction of that agreement look like? And then practically, how should they use it? Because I think anybody can Google and copy and paste a contract, which I always say, don't do that.
But I'd love for you to break down what should that look like? And then practically, how does an agency use that in their day-to-day agreements and contracts and working with their clients? Because that Unfortunately, well, I think all of us that aren't in the legal field can find ourselves like, oh, we'll just start up and figure it out as we go.
And then I've been caught in some pretty tough spots years ago because I didn't really understand what I needed to have in my agreements.
I think the first thing I would say in reaction to that is that our point of view, our fundamental belief at my firm about the role of legal in agency operations is that it's about growing or protecting your top line as much as it is about protecting your bottom line and avoiding risks.
How that shows up in agency client agreements is ensuring that you're negotiating the fairest but most profitable arrangement that you can for a project or a relationship, right? So there's definitely a pattern in some of the issues that we see that need to be pre-considered and reflected in every agreement.
And there are definitely some negotiation strategies that we see on repeat that are helpful to agencies.
The first thing I would say is that, you know, I'll never forget getting kind of taken aside that I was speaking one year at Inbound, which is HubSpot's huge user group conference.
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