Terms of engagement.
These govern paid record-defensibility engagements. Those engagements were closed to new requests on 4 September 2026, so this page is retained to govern engagements agreed in writing before that date rather than to offer new ones. They are written to be read by your counsel, so they are short, and every limit is stated rather than implied. The free record check is covered by nothing here: it asks nothing of you, and your answers to it are never sent. Like every page on this site, that page counts anonymous visits and link clicks, and none of that measurement includes anything you tick.
1. Who you are contracting with
JRS and the Justification Review Standard are the practice of Phillip Wikes, sole principal, trading as JRS™. For engagements agreed in writing before 4 September 2026, the work was performed personally and was not subcontracted. Contact for all notices under these terms is info@jrsstandard.com.
2. What an engagement is
Status of founder-delivered engagements: the engagements described in this section were closed to new requests on 4 September 2026. The provisions below remain applicable only to engagements agreed in writing before that date and are retained for the purpose of governing those pre-existing engagements. The commercial pathways that remain open are licensing of the JRS Review Engine, technical integration, and acquisition.
An engagement was a structured read of documentation quality against the five JRS review conditions and the seven documented failure modes, delivered as a written finding. Fees were fixed and agreed in writing before work began. For each pre-existing engagement the fee is the figure confirmed in the written scope received before anything was charged; the written scope governs. Turnaround was stated at scoping. There was no hourly rate, no retainer, and no scope variation clause, because scope was a fixed number of records.
3. What an engagement is not
It is not legal advice and creates no attorney-client relationship. It does not assess whether a decision was correct, lawful, or defensible in law. It does not establish compliance with the EU AI Act, NIST AI RMF, ISO/IEC 42001 or any other framework, and no framework requires JRS. It is not a certification, an accreditation, or an audit within the meaning of any professional standard. JRS is under operational validation and is offered as such.
4. Your records
For pre-existing engagements, records were supplied by you, de-identified to a standard agreed at scoping. Customer files and sample records supplied for diagnostic evaluation were processed in ephemeral working memory and deleted on delivery of the diagnostic report. Customer records were never stored, logged to public research sets, or used for model training. A record arriving with an identifier was returned rather than redacted. Records were read by one person and were not passed to any third-party service. No sub-processors were engaged in that work. That is a statement about those closed engagements only. It is not a statement about this website, which uses the service providers named in the privacy policy. These undertakings continue to bind the practice in respect of any material supplied under a pre-existing engagement.
5. Rights and permitted use
The written finding is yours outright on delivery. No licence back is retained, your material is not reused in research or marketing, and no case study, testimonial or client name is published without your separate written agreement. JRS methodology, rubrics, Investigator Guides, benchmark materials, software, and marks are not conveyed by a record-review engagement. Any right to reproduce, modify, embed, commercialize, sublicense, or transfer JRS materials requires a separate written instrument that identifies the rights actually available and granted. Nothing on this page independently establishes ownership, chain of title, or authority to transfer a right.
6. Confidentiality
Your material, your identity as a client, and the content of any finding are treated as confidential. For engagements agreed in writing before 4 September 2026, an NDA provided by the client could be accepted and signed before the scope was agreed. This survives the engagement.
7. Payment
For pre-existing engagements, invoicing followed agreement of scope. Purchase orders were accepted. Terms are net 30 unless your procurement process requires otherwise, in which case they follow yours. Fees are exclusive of any tax that applies in your jurisdiction.
8. Cancellation
For pre-existing engagements governed by these terms: cancellation before records were transmitted carried no charge. Once records were received and reading had begun, the agreed fee remains payable in full in accordance with the applicable written agreement, because the fee buys a read of a fixed set rather than time.
9. Liability
Liability under any engagement is limited to the fee paid for that engagement. Neither party is liable for indirect or consequential loss. Nothing here limits liability that cannot be limited by law. You remain responsible for your own decisions and records; a finding is an input to your judgment and not a substitute for it.
10. Changes
These terms apply as published on the date the applicable scope was countersigned. A later change to this page does not alter an engagement already agreed.
Questions on any clause governing a pre-existing engagement: info@jrsstandard.com. How an engagement worked in practice is recorded on the engagement page.