The terms below govern the use of this website and the professional advisory services offered by Rubric Advisory. Individual engagements are also governed by a signed engagement letter that names the scope, fee and deliverable, which takes precedence over these terms where they conflict. Written for clarity, not to hide anything. Last updated August 2026.
These terms have been drafted with reference to current practice in professional-services contracting. They are not a substitute for legal advice, and are subject to the terms of any signed engagement letter with a specific client.
These terms are entered into between Rubric Advisory ("Rubric", "we", "us") and any person or organisation that uses this website, submits an enquiry, or engages Rubric to provide professional advisory services ("you", "Client"). By using the website or engaging Rubric, you agree to these terms. If you do not agree, do not use the site or engage the practice.
Rubric provides professional technology advisory services. A typical engagement produces a written assessment with concrete recommendations regarding a specific decision, cost review, architecture question, platform selection, technology due diligence, or similar advisory matter. Rubric does not perform hands-on implementation, does not write or deploy production code as part of an advisory engagement, and does not act as a legal, audit, or fiduciary adviser.
Recommendations are professional opinions based on information reasonably available at the time of the engagement, and represent Rubric's judgement about a course of action. They are not guarantees of any specific business, financial, technical or operational outcome.
Rubric's ability to give a useful read depends on the Client. The Client agrees to:
The Client is responsible for implementation. Any implementation performed by the Client's team, contractors or vendors (including code changes, configuration changes, migrations, deployments and operational decisions) is the responsibility of the Client, not Rubric.
Rubric warrants that services will be performed in a professional and workmanlike manner, consistent with generally accepted standards for technology advisory work in the industry.
To the maximum extent permitted by law, and except for the express warranty above, Rubric makes no other warranties, express or implied, statutory or otherwise. Without limiting the foregoing, Rubric expressly disclaims warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, non-infringement, and any warranty regarding:
Technology platforms change frequently. Vendors alter pricing, deprecate features, change default behaviour, and modify terms of service. Recommendations reflect the state of the world as Rubric understood it at the time of the written assessment. Rubric has no obligation to update a recommendation after delivery unless the parties have agreed to ongoing advisory work in writing.
To the maximum extent permitted by law:
The limitations in this section reflect the allocation of risk between Rubric and the Client, and are a material inducement to Rubric's willingness to provide services at the fees agreed. They apply even if a limited remedy is found to have failed of its essential purpose.
The Client shall indemnify, defend and hold Rubric harmless from any third-party claim, loss, liability, damage, cost or expense (including reasonable attorneys' fees) arising out of or relating to the Client's implementation of, deviation from, or misuse of a recommendation, or from information the Client provided that was inaccurate, incomplete or misleading. This provision survives termination of any engagement.
Background IP. Each party retains all rights to intellectual property it owned or developed independently before the engagement, or develops independently outside the engagement. Rubric's methodologies, frameworks, evaluation rubrics, checklists, templates and general know-how remain Rubric's property.
Foreground IP. The specific written assessment delivered to the Client as part of an engagement is licensed to the Client for the Client's internal business use. Ownership of that specific deliverable transfers to the Client upon full payment of fees, subject to Rubric's retained right to use the underlying methodology, general lessons learned and de-identified insights for its own advisory practice.
No third-party redistribution. The Client may not publish, resell, or redistribute the written assessment outside its own organisation without Rubric's prior written consent.
Each party will treat non-public information disclosed by the other in connection with an engagement as confidential, use it only for purposes of the engagement, and protect it with at least the same degree of care it uses for its own confidential information (and no less than a reasonable degree of care). Standard exceptions apply: information that is or becomes public through no fault of the receiver, is independently developed, is rightfully received from a third party without confidentiality obligation, or is required to be disclosed by law or court order (with reasonable prior notice where lawful).
Confidentiality obligations survive termination of the engagement.
Rubric may use general-purpose AI tools to support research, drafting, comparison, summarisation and analysis in the course of preparing a written assessment. In every case, the recommendation is Rubric's professional judgement, reviewed by a human before delivery. AI is a tool, not the adviser.
Rubric will not submit Client confidential information into any consumer AI service or any service that trains on user prompts. Where AI tooling is used with any Client information, Rubric uses services with contractual data-handling protections (for example, business or enterprise tiers that explicitly prohibit training on submitted data). The Client may ask Rubric to identify the AI tools used on a particular engagement.
The Client acknowledges that AI-assisted analysis does not change Rubric's professional responsibility for the recommendation, nor does it change the warranties, disclaimers or limitations of liability set out above.
In the course of an engagement, Rubric may receive access to Client systems, logs, bills, configuration exports and other operational data. Rubric will:
Where an engagement involves personal data subject to specific regulation (HIPAA, GDPR, CCPA/CPRA, PCI DSS, and similar), the parties will agree any additional processing terms in the engagement letter or an accompanying data processing addendum.
Fees for a specific engagement are set out in the applicable engagement letter. Unless otherwise agreed, fees are invoiced at the start of the engagement and are due net 15 days of invoice. Rubric may suspend work if fees are more than 30 days overdue.
Fees are exclusive of applicable taxes, which the Client is responsible for. Reasonable out-of-pocket expenses (travel, third-party subscriptions bought specifically for the engagement) are billed at cost with prior agreement.
Each engagement runs for the duration set out in the engagement letter, typically two to four weeks. Either party may terminate an engagement for material breach by the other on seven (7) days' written notice if the breach is not cured in that period.
The Client may terminate an engagement for convenience on seven (7) days' written notice. On such termination, the Client remains responsible for fees for work performed through the effective termination date, and Rubric will deliver work-in-progress as it stands.
Sections 4 (Warranties), 5 (Limitation of liability), 6 (Indemnification), 7 (Intellectual property), 8 (Confidentiality), 10 (Data protection), 15 (Governing law) and any other provision that by its nature is intended to survive, survive termination.
Neither party is liable for delay or failure to perform arising from events beyond reasonable control, including natural disasters, pandemics, war, civil unrest, government action, labour disputes, or major failure of internet or utility infrastructure. The affected party will use reasonable efforts to resume performance.
Rubric provides services as an independent contractor. Nothing in these terms creates an employment, partnership, joint venture, agency or fiduciary relationship between the parties.
These terms are governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of California, without regard to its conflict-of-law principles. Any dispute arising out of or relating to these terms or an engagement will be resolved exclusively in the state or federal courts located in Alameda County, California, and each party consents to the personal jurisdiction of those courts.
The parties will first attempt in good faith to resolve any dispute through direct discussion before commencing formal proceedings.
Entire agreement. These terms, together with any engagement letter, constitute the entire agreement between the parties on the subject matter, and supersede any prior or contemporaneous understandings.
Order of precedence. If a signed engagement letter conflicts with these terms, the engagement letter controls to the extent of the conflict.
Amendments. Amendments to these terms are effective only if in writing and signed by both parties. Rubric may update these general website terms from time to time; the version in effect at the time a specific engagement is signed governs that engagement.
Assignment. Neither party may assign these terms without the other's prior written consent, except that either party may assign to a successor in connection with a merger, acquisition or sale of substantially all assets.
Severability. If any provision is found unenforceable, the remaining provisions remain in full force.
No waiver. Failure to enforce a provision is not a waiver of the right to enforce it later.
Notices. Notices to Rubric go to terms@rubricadvisory.com. Notices to the Client go to the email address specified in the engagement letter.
This website is provided for general information. Nothing on the site constitutes professional advice, forms a client relationship, or should be relied on as a substitute for a signed engagement. Content is provided "as is" without warranty of any kind.
Questions about these terms go to terms@rubricadvisory.com.