I just got an employment offer and they want it signed in 48 hours—what are the top things I should check (non-compete, termination, IP, confidentiality) before I sign?

Most people only look at salary, title, and start date when they get an offer—and that’s exactly how you end up stuck with a non‑compete you didn’t clock or an IP clause that quietly assigns your side project to your employer. With a 48‑hour deadline, you don’t have time to become a lawyer, but you do have time to run a focused, structured review.

This guide walks you through the top clauses to check—non‑compete, termination, IP, and confidentiality—plus a practical 48‑hour checklist and how tools like SpeedLegal can help you understand the deal before you sign.

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The Quick Overview

• What It Is: A practical explainer of SpeedLegal’s “employment offer review” workflow—using AI to surface key risks and explain them in plain language so you can make a more informed decision before signing.
• Who It Is For: Candidates, employees, and hiring managers who need to understand employment contracts quickly, especially under tight deadlines.
• Core Problem Solved: Turning a dense, time‑sensitive offer letter and attached agreements into a clear picture of your obligations, restrictions, and leverage—without waiting days for outside counsel.

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How It Works

In a typical employment offer, you’re not just agreeing to start a job—you’re agreeing to how you can leave, what you can do after you leave, who owns what you create, and what you must keep secret. SpeedLegal is built to read that for you like a paralegal, then hand you a simplified risk map.

At a high level, the workflow looks like this:

1. Upload & Analyze (Minutes, Not Hours):

   • You upload your offer letter and any attachments (IP agreement, NDA, equity docs, bonus plan).
   • SpeedLegal’s models scan for common employment clauses (non‑compete, non‑solicit, probation, termination, IP assignment, confidentiality, dispute resolution, jurisdiction, bonuses, equity).
   • A Red Flag Analyzer highlights non‑standard or potentially unfavorable terms against “Market Standards” or your own template (if you’re a hiring company using SpeedLegal internally).

2. Assess & Understand (Clause‑By‑Clause):

   • Red flags and key terms are shown in a clean table and directly highlighted in the document.
   • You can click any flagged clause and use Ask our AI to get plain‑English explanations (e.g., “What does this non‑compete prevent me from doing?”).
   • For Startup/Growth/Enterprise accounts, a human reviewer can add an extra check on top of the AI (free during Beta).

3. Remind & Manage (After You Sign):

   • Once you sign, you can store the final agreement in SpeedLegal.
   • The system auto‑categorizes it and tracks key dates (probation end, cliff vesting, bonus eligibility, fixed‑term end).
   • You can set reminders (e.g., 7/30/60/90 days before a fixed‑term end or equity vesting dates) so you don’t lose track of obligations and opportunities.

SpeedLegal is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice. It gives you structured information, red flags, and explanations so you can ask better questions and, if needed, have a more targeted conversation with a lawyer.

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The 48‑Hour Employment Offer Checklist

If you only have two days, tackle your offer in this order. You can do this manually or let SpeedLegal surface each clause for you.

1. Non‑Compete & Non‑Solicitation

What to look for:

• Scope of activities:
  • What exactly can’t you do? Competing business, freelancing, consulting?
• Geographic scope:
  • Is it limited to a region/country, or is it “worldwide”?
• Duration:
  • How long after leaving are you restricted—3 months, 6 months, 12+ months?
• Non‑solicitation:
  • Can you recruit former colleagues or work with former clients after you leave?

Why it matters:
A broad non‑compete or non‑solicit can make it harder to move to a competitor, start your own company, or even consult in your field. In some jurisdictions, non‑competes are restricted or unenforceable, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be used to create friction or disputes.

How SpeedLegal helps:

• Automatically extracts non‑compete and non‑solicit clauses.
• Compares them to Market Standards to show if the duration or scope is unusually broad.
• Explains the effect in plain language so you can decide whether to push back.

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2. Termination, Probation, and “At‑Will” Language

What to look for:

• Type of employment:
  • “At‑will,” fixed term, or indefinite term?
• Notice periods:
  • How much notice must you give? How much notice must they give you?
• Termination for cause vs. without cause:
  • Are severance and vesting different depending on the reason?
• Probation period:
  • Is there a probation period with shorter notice or no severance?

Why it matters:
This is where you see how protected you are if the role doesn’t work out—or if the company restructures. It affects severance, benefits continuation, and sometimes vesting.

How SpeedLegal helps:

• Flags termination clauses and probation language.
• Highlights differences between your offer and common market practice for similar roles (where available).
• Summarizes in a simple report: who can terminate, how, and what you get if they do.

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3. Intellectual Property (IP) and Side Projects

What to look for:

• IP assignment:
  • Do you assign all IP you create “during employment,” or does it say “related to the business” or even broader “in any way connected to the company’s business”?
• Side projects:
  • Are you allowed to maintain existing projects (apps, websites, content, open‑source contributions) that are unrelated to your employer’s business?
• Pre‑existing IP:
  • Is there space to list IP you already own (like a product, book, or codebase)?
• Moral rights / waiver:
  • Are you waiving certain rights to be named as author or to object to modifications?

Why it matters:
IP clauses can silently sweep in your current or future side projects, especially in tech, design, writing, and creative roles. A broadly drafted assignment might give your employer rights over work that you build on your own time, on your own equipment.

How SpeedLegal helps:

• Extracts all IP‑related clauses, including subtle language buried deep in the contract.
• Flags unusually broad assignment language compared with Market Standards.
• Lets you ask questions like “Does this clause give my employer rights over my existing side project?” and explains how the wording typically operates.

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4. Confidentiality and Non‑Disclosure

What to look for:

• What counts as confidential:
  • Is it limited to business information, or does it include any information you learn in connection with your job, even after it becomes public?
• Duration of confidentiality:
  • Does it last only during employment or continue after? For how long?
• Return of information:
  • What must you do with devices, documents, and access when you leave?

Why it matters:
You’ll almost always have to keep company secrets confidential—that’s normal. The question is whether the scope is reasonable and whether it clearly allows you to use general skills and knowledge in future roles.

How SpeedLegal helps:

• Identifies confidentiality clauses and highlights duration and scope.
• Summarizes your obligations after you leave.
• Helps you see if anything goes beyond fair protection of the company’s secrets.

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5. Compensation, Bonuses, and Equity

What to look for:

• Base salary and pay frequency (monthly, bi‑weekly, etc.).
• Bonus structure:
  • Is it guaranteed, discretionary, or formula‑based?
  • Any conditions (must be employed on payment date, company performance thresholds)?
• Equity:
  • Type (options, RSUs), vesting schedule, cliff, acceleration on termination or change of control.
• Benefits:
  • Health, retirement, leave policies, and any specific perks.

Why it matters:
You want the written documents to match what you discussed. Bonus and equity plans often sit in separate documents or plan rules that legally control the outcome—even if the recruiter made verbal promises.

How SpeedLegal helps:

• Extracts key financials (salary, bonus percentages, equity grants) and makes them easy to scan.
• Has helped users identify financial terms 6x faster than manual review.
• Flags dependencies like “subject to plan documents” so you know what else to request.

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6. Post‑Employment Obligations (Beyond Non‑Compete)

What to look for:

• Return of property and data:
  • Deadlines and processes for returning devices and deleting company data.
• Non‑disparagement:
  • Are you restricted from making negative statements about the company?
• Cooperation obligations:
  • Are you required to assist in litigation or investigations after you leave, and on what terms (e.g., paid time, reasonable notice)?

Why it matters:
These obligations can impact your future flexibility, including what you can say publicly and how much unpaid time you might spend helping with company issues after you’ve moved on.

How SpeedLegal helps:

• Surfaces any obligations that continue after termination.
• Summarizes them in a short “After You Leave” section, so you don’t miss ongoing duties.

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7. Jurisdiction, Dispute Resolution, and Governing Law

What to look for:

• Governing law:
  • Which country/state’s law applies?
• Dispute resolution:
  • Court litigation vs. arbitration? Any mandatory internal processes?
• Venue/Forum:
  • Where would you have to bring or defend a claim?

Why it matters:
If there’s a dispute, these clauses dictate where and how you fight it. For cross‑border or remote roles, this can significantly impact cost and complexity.

How SpeedLegal helps:

• Automatically extracts jurisdiction and governing law fields.
• Lets you search contracts later by jurisdiction, which is especially useful for HR and legal teams managing multiple regions.

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Features & Benefits Breakdown

Core Feature	What It Does	Primary Benefit
Red Flag Analyzer	Scans your employment documents for common issues and non‑standard clauses.	Helps you spot non‑competes, harsh termination terms, and broad IP assignments in minutes.
Ask our AI (Plain‑Language Q&A)	Answers clause‑level questions in easy, non‑legalistic language.	Lets you understand what you’re agreeing to without decoding legal jargon.
Automated Summaries & Reminders	Summarizes key obligations and tracks important dates post‑signature.	Ensures you don’t forget probation periods, vesting cliffs, or fixed‑term ends.

SpeedLegal is a contract reading facilitator—it supports your review; it does not replace legal advice. You remain in control of the decision to sign.

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Ideal Use Cases

• Best for Candidates under a 48‑Hour Deadline:
  Because it turns a dense offer pack into a prioritized list of risks and obligations so you can decide what to negotiate or escalate, fast.

• Best for HR/Legal Teams Standardizing Offers:
  Because you can upload your own employment templates and compare each outgoing offer against your internal playbook and Market Standards, ensuring consistency and faster approvals.

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Limitations & Considerations

• Not a Substitute for a Lawyer:
  SpeedLegal does not provide legal advice or create an attorney‑client relationship. For complex or high‑stakes scenarios (e.g., executive offers, complicated equity, restrictive covenants in new jurisdictions), you should still consult an employment lawyer and use SpeedLegal’s outputs to focus that conversation.

• Statistical Inferences, Not Guarantees:
  Market Standards are built from large‑scale analysis of high‑quality contracts and expert review, but they reflect patterns, not hard rules. Unusual roles, industries, or jurisdictions may reasonably deviate from those norms.

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Pricing & Plans

If you’re reviewing a single offer, you might encounter SpeedLegal through your employer (as part of their contract stack) or via a trial. For ongoing use—especially for HR, Legal, or Finance teams sending or reviewing many offers—plans scale with your needs.

• Startup Plan:
  Best for small teams and startups needing faster, more consistent review of employment offers and basic contract management. Includes AI analysis, Market Standards, and (during Beta) an additional human review layer to increase assurance.

• Growth / Enterprise Plans:
  Best for larger organizations needing multi‑user access, custom templates, deeper contract analytics (across vendor, customer, and employment agreements), and more robust reminder/search capabilities. Also includes the human check during Beta, plus advanced security and audit logging.

For current plan details and pricing, you can request a demo or talk to the SpeedLegal team.

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Frequently Asked Questions

I only have 48 hours—what should I prioritize if I can’t read everything?

Short Answer: Focus on non‑compete/non‑solicit, termination and probation, IP assignment, confidentiality, and how compensation/equity actually work.

Details:
In a time crunch, you want to triage:

1. Restrictions on your future (non‑compete/non‑solicit).
2. How you can be terminated and what you get if that happens.
3. Who owns what you create, including side projects.
4. What you must keep confidential and for how long.
5. Whether pay, bonus, and equity match what you were promised.

SpeedLegal accelerates that triage by extracting and highlighting those clauses automatically and then summarizing your obligations and risks before you sign.

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Do I still need a lawyer if I use SpeedLegal to review my employment offer?

Short Answer: Sometimes yes—especially for complex roles or contentious negotiations. SpeedLegal helps you understand the contract and focus any legal advice you seek.

Details:
SpeedLegal is designed to behave like a very fast, very organized paralegal:

• It surfaces red flags and non‑standard terms.
• It explains clauses in plain language.
• It gives you a structured summary so you can see the big picture.

But it does not tell you what you should agree to—that’s a legal and personal judgment call. If:

• The role is senior or highly compensated,
• The non‑compete or non‑solicit looks broad,
• The equity package is a major part of your compensation, or
• You’re changing jurisdictions,

then using SpeedLegal plus a targeted 30–60 minute consultation with an employment lawyer is often the best of both worlds: the tool does the heavy reading; the lawyer focuses on strategy and negotiation.

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Summary

When you’re staring at a 48‑hour deadline on an employment offer, the real risk isn’t that you’ll miss a comma—it’s that you’ll miss a non‑compete, a termination gotcha, or an IP clause that grabs your side project. Those are exactly the patterns SpeedLegal is built to catch.

By uploading your offer pack into SpeedLegal, you can:

• Analyze key clauses in minutes with a Red Flag Analyzer.
• Assess what they mean in plain, easy‑to‑understand language with Ask our AI.
• Set reminders and manage your obligations after you sign, so important dates don’t sneak up on you.

You still decide whether to accept, negotiate, or walk away. The goal is simple: compress the time between “I just got this offer” and “I actually understand what I’m signing.”

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Next Step

Get Started