Law School Admissions Consulting Agreement

Last Updated May 2022

1. Fees and Services

(a) S. Montgomery Admissions Consulting agrees to provide the services as described at smontgomeryconsulting.com/law-school

This agreement will be deemed legal and binding to both parties of signature and will not be transferable or negotiable. All additional changes, revisions, and modifications will require an addendum, or revised agreement prior to additional work. The Client shall be obligated to pay fees or expenses that were orally authorized in order to progress promptly. The below fee does not take into account any discounts that Client may have arranged with S. Montgomery Admissions Consulting. All such discounts are reflected in the invoice.

(b) Services are good for 18 months from the date of the contract or until Client begins law school, whichever event comes sooner. Unless an alternative arrangement is discussed at the time of the contract with Client, any unused hours are forfeited at that point.

(c) Any additional services provided by Consultant to Client may require additional fees to be discussed and agreed upon by the parties. Additional services may require the signing of a separate agreement.Client understands that payment for additional hourly services is due prior to any scheduled meetings. Client further agrees that in the event there is a balance due of any hourly consulting services, Client will pay the balance within 24 hours of the conclusion of the services.

(d) Fees cover emails, text messages, phone calls, video meetings, recorded feedback videos, worksheets, and assignments, as well as outside research and editing time. As such, unavailability for video meetings or phone sessions does not constitute a reduction of fees.

2. No Guarantees

Client understands that using my services does not guarantee any application decision or outcome. S. Montgomery Admissions Consulting cannot and does not purport to guarantee admission into any particular school or tier of schools. S. Montgomery Admissions Consulting cannot and does not purport to guarantee any specific financial aid package, scholarship, or award. Designated fees are payable whether or not the user gains acceptance to the school of choice.

S. Montgomery Admissions Consulting is an independent educational consulting company. S. Montgomery Admissions Consulting is not an agent and fees are not accepted from institutions or programs for referral or placement of a client.

3. Code of Ethics

Client understands that S. Montgomery Admissions Consulting is not a consulting service that is going to write essays for Clients. At no point will the Client request that S. Montgomery Admissions Consulting write essays on his or her behalf or perform any other act of academic dishonesty.

By enlisting our services, Client agrees to refrain from any act of academic dishonesty including, but not limited to, plagiarizing or fraud. Any such act of academic dishonesty committed by the Client is neither endorsed, nor encouraged, by S. Montgomery Admissions Consulting, and should any such academic dishonesty occur, S. Montgomery Admissions Consulting will terminate services effective immediately, without a refund.

4. Communication Policies

Communication is at the heart of every great relationship. In order for this consulting relationship to work the following policies are in place:

(a) Unless specially arranged, S. Montgomery Admissions Consulting does not operate on the weekends or holidays. Weekends are defined as Friday 6pm EST - Monday 9am EST. While you may text or email on the weekend, or on a holiday, you may not receive a response until the following business day.

(b) Clients are responsible for maintaining regular communication with S. Montgomery Admissions Consulting. Clients must be responsive to text message and email communication from S. Montgomery Admissions Consulting team members. The best way for clients to reach us is by text at 301-417-5167. Clients may email and we will endeavor to respond within 48 business hours.

(c) S. Montgomery Admissions Consulting is not an “on-demand” service, and as such advanced scheduling is required. Clients should strive to utilize our scheduling link. While last-minute requests will be accommodated if possible, accommodation is not guaranteed. Last-minute will be defined as requests for phone or video meetings with less than 48 hours’ notice and essay/resume editing requests with less than 72-hours’ notice.

(d) If requested, we can provide parent summaries of sessions. However, we also believe that as students are embarking on becoming young adults, graduate students, and future attorneys, parent communication should be minimized so that the student can take ownership of the process.As much as possible, communication should come directly from the student.

5. Cancelation and Rescheduling Policies

(a) a 24-hour notice is required for all cancellations/rescheduling requests unless there are extenuating circumstances. We will make a good faith attempt to reschedule sessions canceled with appropriate notice.

(b) All sessions canceled without 24-hour notice will still count against the hours purchased. There are no refunds for sessions canceled.

(c) There is no fee for the first late-canceled session, however, other than cancellations for unexpected illnesses, death, natural emergencies, or other extenuating circumstances, a $50 cancellation fee will be assessed for all other last-minute canceled sessions.

(d) In meetings, we will discuss due dates on assignments. Assignments will need to be completed by the agreed-upon due dates. If students do not complete assignments by the due dates and/or prior to the appointment, the appointment will be canceled.

6. Client Responsibility – Application Components

Consulting requires mutual work from both parties. S. Montgomery Admissions Consulting agrees to provide the services and hours of consulting as listed in the package description, however, the Client must put forth their own effort and work in order to make the application process smooth and ensure that the consulting relationship is fruitful.

Clients are responsible for:

Submitting work to S. Montgomery Admissions Consulting by agreed-upon due dates
Preparing and studying for any admissions entrance exams (LSAT/GRE)
Researching and visiting law schools
Sending transcripts and official test scores to universities and/or LSAC
Securing academic and personal letters of recommendation
Researching and monitoring application deadlines on provided spreadsheets
Completing and sending applications by university deadlines
Monitoring the status of applications and advising universities of enrollment intentions

7. Essay Policies

To ensure a successful and smooth application process, the following policies are in place.

(a) Documents must be uploaded to the appropriate channels in order to be read. We try to return documents as soon as possible, however, sometimes it may take up to72 business hours to return feedback. If we can return sooner, we will. We do not read essays over the weekend. If you submit documents over the weekend, you can expect a response no later than the close of business on Wednesday, unless Monday is also a holiday. We close for a winter holiday from December 15 – January 3. We will not read or return essays during this time.

(b) Students must submit first drafts ten (10) business days before a school or program deadline. Unfortunately, because our process requires several rounds of drafts, we will not be able to help with applications in which we do not receive the first draft ten (10)days before the due date.

(c) While students will work primarily with their main law school consultant, we have a team approach here at S. Montgomery Admissions Consulting and our essay specialists may help with end-stage essays and smaller supplemental essays to refine tone, clarity, and grammar after they have been workshopped with your main consultant. Your main consultant will always see and sign off on any revisions and edits.

(d) It is crucial to the consulting relationship that there is trust between the student and the consultant on the process and on the feedback provided. From experience, multiple editors and sources of feedback create confusion, insecurity, and doubt in students. It also leads to suboptimal support and results in the process of working with me. For that reason:

Students should minimize getting outside feedback on their essays while we are in the process of developing and crafting them. This includes feedback from parents, cousins, coworkers, or other attorneys.
We will not co-edit essays with another essay editing service, teacher, or provider. For academic integrity, there should be no google drive comments or edits on the essays that are not coming from the student.
Once an essay has been finalized it will be marked as complete on our essay platform. Students are free to show their essays to parents, family members, coworkers, etc. after this fact, but we will not go back and re-edit essays based on the suggestions of outside third parties.
For students working with Sydney: Sydney edits essays collaboratively in sessions with students. Essays edited outside of meeting with Sydney may be edited in conjunction with our team of essay editors.

8. Application Progress and Deadline Policy

It is our expectation that students work judiciously to make adequate progress in their applications. As such the following policies are in place:

(a) If you sign up before June 1, all essays must be done by November 1.
(b) If you sign up before October 1, all essays must be done by December 1.

(d) If you sign up after November 15, we cannot guarantee that all of your applications will be done before January 10.

(e) If you sign up after December 10, you will not begin working with S. Montgomery Admissions Consulting until January 15.

9. Terminations and Refunds

(a) If a Client chooses to terminate services prior to the completion of a package of hours, Client understands that there are no refunds for any services, used or unused. Cancelation by Client will not extinguish the Client's obligation to pay the full package fee as outlined in section 1. Client will remain obligated to pay all remaining unpaid fees in full.

(b) Due to the nature of the Services, no refunds can be provided. Client understands that disputing a charge through his or her financial institution (in the form of a “chargeback”) is a violation of this Agreement and agrees to not do so.

(c) In the event that Client engages in abusive or unprofessional behavior towards Consultant or towards representatives of Consultant, Consultant reserves the right to cancel Client’s participation and terminate access to the Services. No refund will be provided in the event that this takes place. Client will remain obligated to pay all remaining unpaid program fees in full.

(d) Consulting requires participation and cooperation from all parties involved as outlined in Client responsibilities in Section 5. In the event of a material breakdown in the relationship between Consultant and Client, as evidenced by multiple and repeated violations of the Client responsibilities, including but not limited to, multiple no-show appointments, failure to meaningfully participate in any of the assignments, failure to communicate with Consultant for an extended period of time without notice, multiple missed deadlines, failure to submit applications as discussed, failure to follow timelines, and/or failure to disclose material information regarding education, mental health, or learning differences, Consultant may terminate the relationship after (2) written warnings or attempts to rectify the relationship. At the time of termination of the relationship by the Consultant, any unused hours will expire and no refunds will be issued.

(e) Client’s failure to effectively participate in the Program is not grounds for a refund.

10. Payment Plans

(a) If a Client chooses to terminate services prior to the completion of a package of hours, cancelation by Client will not extinguish the Client's obligation to pay the full package fee as outlined in section 1 even if they decide to voluntarily end services before starting or completing applications. Client will remain obligated to pay all remaining unpaid fees in full.

(b) Any modification of the payment plan frequency, duration, or amount, must be done in writing and agreed to by both parties.

(c) A 10% late fee will be assessed if any installment payment becomes more than five (5) days past due without prior discussion and agreement from S. Montgomery Admissions Consulting, LLC.

(d) S. Montgomery Admissions Consulting will automatically charge the card on file for any installment payment that is more than thirty (30) days late unless an alternative arrangement is made in writing beforehand.

(e) Failure to remit payment or provide a card with sufficient funds for more than ninety (90) days will cause the full balance to be sent to collections unless an alternative arrangement is made in writing beforehand. Any fees associated with sending this bill to collections will be the sole responsibility of the Client.

11. Use of Materials

S. Montgomery Admissions Consulting provides various materials, information, quizzes, tests, questions, articles, news and other information. Such documents are stored in the Client's Google Drive folder that is owned by S. Montgomery Admissions Consulting but shared with Client during the duration of the consulting relationship. S. Montgomery Admissions Consulting authorizes the Client to view and download one copy of the Materials. S. Montgomery Admissions Consulting retains all copyright (whether or not registered or registrable) and other proprietary notices contained in the original Materials on any copies of the Materials.

Subject to each Client’s express right to view and download one copy of the Materials, Clients are prohibited from reproducing, disclosing, sharing, distributing, or selling the Materials, and may not modify the Materials in any way for any purpose. Clients may not copy, reproduce, disclose, duplicate, distribute, disseminate, publish, post (on social media, online, or elsewhere), display, perform, modify, create derivative works from, upload to, transmit, or in any way exploit any Materials provided by S. Montgomery Admissions Consulting without the express and written permission of S. Montgomery Admissions Consulting. Clients may not sell or offer for sale any of the Materials or content, or allow third parties to access it, or use such Materials or content to construct any kind of database. Clients will keep all Materials confidential, and will not sell, auction, loan, rent, give away, describe, summarize, or otherwise reveal the Materials or their contents, to any other person or entity. Any breach of these Terms of Use automatically terminates your consulting relationship and use of the Materials, and S. Montgomery Admissions Consulting may pursue legal and equitable relief against any Client that violates these Terms of Use to the fullest extent permitted by law, in S. Montgomery Admissions Consulting's sole discretion.

12. Trademark and Copyright

S. Montgomery Admissions Consulting, and certain other brands, trademarks, and service marks are marks of S. Montgomery Admissions Consulting and its affiliates. The Materials on this Site are copyrighted, and any unauthorized use of any Materials may violate copyright, trademark, and other laws. All materials – including but not limited to text, photographs, video, audio, images and any other content – appearing via the Online Course, Google Drive, and/or on the Website are protected by copyrights and/or other proprietary rights belonging to S. Montgomery Admissions Consulting and/or other third parties.

13. Limitation of Liability

In no event will S. Montgomery Admissions Consulting be liable for any damages whatsoever (including, without limitation, those resulting from lower admissions outcomes, interruption of services or inaccurate information) arising out of the use, inability to use, or the results of the use of consulting services or the Materials or information provided, whether based on warranty, contract, tort or any other legal theory and whether or not advised of the possibility of such damages.

14. Applicable Law

This Agreement shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of Maryland applicable to contracts executed and to be performed therein, without giving effect to the choice of law rules thereof. Any action to enforce any provision of this Agreement may be brought only in a court of the State of Maryland within Montgomery County. Accordingly, each party (a) agrees to submit to the jurisdiction of such courts and to accept service of process at its address for notices and in the manner provided in Section 13 for the giving of notices in any such action or proceeding brought in any such court and (b) irrevocably waives any objection to the laying of venue of any such proceeding brought in such a court and any claim that any such proceeding brought in such a court has been brought in an inconvenient or inappropriate forum. Client hereby waives all rights to trial by jury.

15. Privacy Policy

As a Client of S. Montgomery Admissions Consulting, you can expect the highest of sensitivities to you and the confidentiality of your personal information. Your educational or financial information will not be shared with anyone, especially institutions of higher learning, standardized testing companies, or other professionals associated with the application process without your permission.

Throughout the process, you will benefit from seeing examples of other students' work. You acknowledge that after you matriculate to law school, your work, without any identifying information or specific details that would allow anyone outside of S. Montgomery Admissions Consulting to identify the work as belonging to any particular student, may be used as examples for other students as well.

S. Mongomery Admissions Consulting operates as a team. As such, other consultants and S. Montgomery Admissions Consulting staff have access to emails and other shared documents in furtherance of their job duties.

Client agrees to indemnify S. Montgomery Admissions Consulting and all of its related organizations, employees, agents, officers, and directors, and hold the same harmless from and against all injury, loss, liability, expense, damage, penalty, or expense of any kind which Client or Company may sustain, incur, pay or have asserted against it, by reason of any alleged violation of the Privacy Policy set forth in this paragraph.