Last Updated March 30th, 2023
Thank you for joining Insight Alpha’s Association of Industry Leaders (IAAIL). The following agreement is between you and Insight Alpha Research & Solutions Pvt. Ltd. (Insight Alpha) . This agreement you are about to enter sets forth the Terms and Conditions of your consulting relationship and pertains to your role as an expert with Insight Alpha. These supersede all prior Terms and Conditions between Insight Alpha and Experts. By submitting your application form to IAAIL or verifying your acceptance of these Terms via the Insight Alpha website, you agree to be an Expert in Insight Alpha and bound by these Terms and Conditions, and all future amendments thereto.
This is a legally binding agreement, and you affirm that you have attained the age of competency to enter into a legal contract in accordance with the laws of your country of residence. As an IAAIL member, you are a non-agent independent contractor of Insight Alpha. You acknowledge that you shall not act on behalf of Insight Alpha in any fiduciary capacity nor have any authority to act on behalf of Insight Alpha.
These Terms and Conditions describe the relationship between Experts and IAAIL, the means of interaction with Insight Alpha’s customers (“Clients”), payment to Experts, and the protection of material works and data privacy. These Terms are also intended to satisfy all parties that our activities, as well as those of our Experts and Clients, will be carried out in accordance with applicable laws and appropriate standards of professional conduct. The Expert is expected to read and abide by all the provisions of these Terms and Conditions; with special regard to all the policies under the heading “Project Policies” as it addresses important areas including protection of confidential corporate information and financial industry regulations restricting the disclosure of material non-public information. In certain circumstances, it is also possible that the Client may require you to abide by their compliance policies or adopt additional terms before participating in an Assignment for them. You will have the opportunity to review any such additional terms and choose whether to participate at the appropriate time.
Insight Alpha’s Association of Industry Leaders is a network of industry experts in and across sectors and countries that includes business professionals, consultants, academics, researchers, and regulatory observers. Insight Alpha provides IAAIL members the opportunity to provide paid consulting services to clients of Insight Alpha. Insight Alpha’s clients include investment managers, corporations, law firms, consultancies and other organizations (individually Client, collectively Clients). Based on our Clients’ needs, Insight Alpha will contact a relevant Expert to ascertain whether such Expert is well suited to a consulting project (“Project”). Projects most often are conducted through telephonic conversations with Clients and in some cases, in-person meetings are arranged depending on the availability of the Expert.
IAAIL members who qualify for Association of Industry Leaders Master Council (AILMC) are eligible to participate in additional type of on-going and in-depth Projects, such as:
Client dinners, Discussion groups, Seminars, Roundtables, Master Class, Conferences Written reports, research findings, collaboratively written documents with multiple Experts.
You are free to accept or decline any projects in your sole discretion. You are expected to accept or decline a project within three (3) business days and to adhere to the schedule you establish with us. You are never under any obligation to accept a project. You should accept projects only on topics (i) that do not present a conflict of interest; (ii) you are permitted to discuss, under applicable law and any contractual obligations (including employment) applicable to you; and (iii) about which you are knowledgeable. If you are not sure about your ability to comply with these Terms, you must decline to join IAAIL. You will also not give investment advice, including without limitation, rating or recommending any security, providing advice as to the value of any security, or providing any advice regarding the advisability of investing in, purchasing, or selling any security in connection with a Project; You also agree that if you are a doctor, you may not give medical advice; if you are an auditor, you may not consult about organizations that you currently audit or you have audited in the last 3 years; if you are a lawyer, you will not give legal advice. If you become concerned with the nature of any inquiry by a Client, you must discontinue your participation and notify us immediately by emailing compliance@insightalpha.com
You represent you are permitted to join IAAIL and have obtained all necessary consents or waivers to participate as a Council Member. If you are employed, your employer’s policies may limit your ability to engage in outside consulting. Similarly, if you have consulting arrangements, these may limit your ability to consult through IAAIL.
For example, prior to joining the IAAIL you must review any employment agreements, employee manuals, codes of conduct, consulting agreements and other similar policies and agreements to ensure you are able to participate in iaail. You should also consider contacting appropriate persons within any firm you have consulted for or your organization to confirm that your participation is permissible and to receive any consents required. It is your responsibility to determine whether it is appropriate for you to join IAAIL.
You agree that you are not eligible for any Client employment benefits based on your participation in the IAAIL and you shall not identify any Client or Insight Alpha as your employer. You agree that you are joining the IAAIL in your individual capacity and not as a representative or on behalf of any other company or organization (such as past or present employers), except as otherwise agreed in writing between such organization and Insight Alpha. If you are unsure about your ability to comply with these Terms & Conditions, then you must decline to participate.
YOU MUST DECLINE, OR DISCONTINUE PARTICIPATION IN, ANY PROJECT THAT WOULD RESULT IN A VIOLATION OF APPLICABLE LAW OR YOUR OBLIGATIONS TO PAST OR PRESENT EMPLOYERS OR OTHER THIRD PARTIES, OR THAT PRESENTS A CONFLICT OF INTEREST.
While there may be many limitations on the scope of your participation and subjects you may discuss depending upon your particular circumstances, you specifically agree that at a minimum you shall not do any of the following at any time in connection with a Project, or otherwise in connection with your participation in IAAIL:
If you speak with a person who is not in the IAAIL in connection with any Project, you agree:
An Expert will be contacted by phone, sms or e-mail whenever Insight Alpha believes that there is a potential match between a Client’s research interests and the Expert’s profile. Insight Alpha will conduct a brief screening call with the Expert about the Assignment prior to determining whether the Expert will be recommended to the Client. This screening call is not counted as part of a paid Project. After the screening calls with Experts, Insight Alpha will send the names of the most relevant Experts to the Client, after which the Expert will be notified about the Client’s interest in speaking with him or her.
Experts who are requested to participate in an Assignment should accept or decline within 48 hours. One-on-one Project consultations should be scheduled at a mutually convenient time with the Client within five business days. All Projects you provide should be performed in a prompt, focused, and professional manner.
All Consultations between Experts and Client must be coordinated through Insight Alpha. If a Client contacts you directly, please inform Insight Alpha immediately and we will confirm the Project for you and the Client. We may indicate that you can schedule the Project time independently with the Client, as long as Insight Alpha is aware of the activity and it is logged in the Extranet.
Please note that Experts are paid only for the time that they speak with the Client. Only if the Client explicitly requests the Expert (via Insight Alpha) to spend a certain amount of time on research or preparation or any other work outside the scope of the Assignment, and that approval is documented in an email, then Insight Alpha will reimburse the Expert for that time.
You have no minimum time commitment to Insight Alpha unless otherwise agreed to, and may engage in any employment or other consulting you wish. Experts are never obligated to accept an Assignment, and Insight Alpha does not guarantee a particular number or frequency of Assignments. You agree that you may be declared ineligible for certain Assignments as a result of any amendment or revision to our Terms and Conditions or other policies/regulations followed by Insight Alpha.
You agree to provide IAAIL with accurate and complete biographical information, including your current job status and all prior employment. IAAIL or its Clients may ask you for other information about yourself, including your ability to consult on particular topics or in general. Collectively, such information about you, as well as any information in your Member Profile, is your IAAIL Member Information. You are solely responsible for your IAAIL Member Information. While Insight Alpha may revise IAAIL Member Information on your behalf based upon information provided by you or others, you have a duty to monitor and ensure the accuracy of your IAAIL Member Information. You agree not to accept any Project or consult with any Client unless your Member Information is accurate, complete and current. You will be responsible for all activities occurring under your username and for keeping your password secure. You should not share your account information with anyone other than your authorized representatives. You agree to immediately notify Insight Alpha of any unauthorized use of your password or account or any other breach of security. Insight Alpha cannot and will not be liable for any loss or damage arising from your failure to comply with this section.
As an expert, you agree to be contacted through any of the phone numbers, email addresses, or other methods for which you provide contact information in your profile. We will from time to time Insight Alpha may sms and/or regarding open Projects in their sector(s) of Expertise even if there is not apparently direct relevance, in case you may have Expertise that has not been documented in your profile or know of relevant colleagues (and you wish to receive a referral fee if your colleague is used on an Project).
You acknowledge that you are an independent contractor, and not an employee of Insight Alpha, and, as a result, you agree to comply with all applicable tax withholding and/or reporting obligations arising from any payments made to you. You agree that you shall be personally responsible for any and all taxes and other payments due on payments received by you hereunder. You acknowledge that you are not representing the views of Insight Alpha/IAAIL or acting on behalf of your current employer in your Projects with Clients.
If you establish contact with a third party in connection with any Project, you must disclose to such person that you are acting on your own behalf or on behalf of a Client, in which case, you may not disclose the identity of the Client or provide reimbursement of any kind to such third party for any information given by that third party.
You may terminate your membership as an Expert at any time by notifying Insight Alpha by email. Insight Alpha reserves the right to terminate your IAAIL membership at any time for any reason.
If applicable, each IAAIL Member is free to establish his or her hourly rate as documented in your profile. In order to receive payment, you must login to Insight Alpha’s secure website and submit an invoice. You can expect to receive payment by mail within 60 working days of receipt by Insight Alpha of a properly completed invoice. Invoices sent more than 45 days after the completion of a project may not be honored. Insight Alpha will not accept any faxed or mailed invoices.
You will be compensated only for the time spent on a call or in-person with a Insight Alpha client. Unless you have received prior authorization from Insight Alpha, you will not be compensated for any research in preparation of or in follow-up to a project. Insight Alpha Clients cannot authorize such additional work.
Experts will not disclose their rate of pay to Clients at any time. We will use commercially reasonable efforts to pay you in the currency of choice. At minimum, we guarantee payment in Rupees or US dollars by check depending on your legal domicile status. However, Insight Alpha reserves the right to withhold payment if there is an active inquiry regarding possible breach of these Terms and Conditions by you during a particular Project, until such time the inquiry is closed.
Insight Alpha will reimburse for travel time and costs, involved for a project, only when approved in advance and in writing. Insight Alpha is not responsible for extraordinary time and expenses related to travel/stay that may be incurred by the Expert during a Project due to any unforeseen contingency, such as unexpected severe weather, substantial delays, or accidents in transportation, personal health issues, or property theft.
Insight Alpha can accommodate an alternative payment method preferred by the Expert or set forth by an Expert's employer including direct payment to the Expert's institution, joint payment to the Expert and his or her employer, or payment to a charity of the Expert's choice, provided the charity is registered with the appropriate authorities. You agree that you will be liable for any and all fees and charges that may be incurred for processing any payment to you by Insight Alpha.
If the circumstances so require, we may ask you, at a later stage, to provide your tax identification number (e.g. PAN number or social security number for individuals or EIN number for businesses in the United States) for the payment process as well as for security reasons.
While there may be many limitations on the scope of your participation and subjects you may discuss depending upon your particular circumstances, you specifically agree that at a minimum you shall not do any of the following at any time in connection with a Project or otherwise in connection with your participation with IAAIL
You further agree that:
To encourage you to err on the side of caution during your participation in the IAAIL, you may submit a payment request for the full time you set aside for any Project you discontinue for the purpose of complying with these Terms & Conditions or your other obligations.
You represent that you will not impersonate any person or entity, or falsely state/misrepresent your affiliation with any person or entity, past or present including, but not limited to, misrepresenting your current or previous positions and qualifications. You agree that you will not publish or provide information that is inaccurate or distorted.
You will not use any information you obtain about the Client including confidential information; business, financial, or trading information; for your personal or corporate benefit, or for the benefit of your family or acquaintances.
For purposes hereof, "Confidential Information" means all information pertaining to Insight Alpha, its business, and its clients including the names of such clients, employee names and projects for such clients.
Confidential Information shall not include information which (a) is or becomes publicly known without violation of this Agreement; (b) you show, through written records, was rightfully known by you without violation of any restriction; or (c) you are legally obligated to disclose, provided, however, that prior to any such obligated disclosure, you shall give us reasonable advance notice of such disclosure and shall cooperate with us in protecting against any such disclosure and/or obtaining a protective order narrowing the scope of such disclosure and/or use of the Confidential Information.
You shall hold all Confidential Information in strict confidence and shall not disclose any Confidential Information to any third party. You shall not use any Confidential Information for your own benefit or any third party. The obligations of this Section with respect to any item of Confidential Information or with respect to any discussions or agreements between the parties shall survive any termination or expiration of this Agreement.
You are welcome to publicize that you are a member of IAAIL.
To the extent a Client selects you for a Project, any Content that you produce for the Client or that you produce in connection with such Project will be owned by the Client as a work for hire under applicable law, and may be used by such Client for any purpose permitted under that Clients agreement with Insight Alpha, which may include reproduction, disclosure, transmission, publication, broadcast, and posting, unless otherwise agreed in writing by Insight Alpha and the Client in advance of a Project.
Without limiting the foregoing, you agree that each Client is free to use any ideas, concepts, know-how, or techniques contained in any communication or Content you transmit to that Client for any purpose whatsoever, including, but not limited to, developing, manufacturing and marketing products using such information. Any inventions, discoveries or improvements that are based in full or in part on any Content and information you provide to a Client in the course of a Project, and all intellectual property rights therein, shall be owned entirely by and shall be proprietary to the Client.
All other materials you have created outside an explicit Client/Insight Alpha request remain your exclusive property. However, Experts may not directly communicate any written materials to the Client unless Insight Alpha has been notified in writing or unless Insight Alpha (on behalf of the Client) has instructed the Expert to provide such information to the Client.
You further consent to Insight Alpha’s Clients recording and/or transcribing your consultations or other interactions with them (“Client Recordings”), and agree that any such Client Recordings are owned by Insight Alpha’s Clients and may be used by such Client and Insight Alpha for any purpose permitted under that Client's agreement with Insight Alpha. As part of their compliance protocols, some Clients may have a professional or independent third party (in addition to the Client user(s) you will speak with) chaperoning phone consultations. On occasion, their presence may be unannounced (i.e., you will not be notified that they are listening). By signing these Terms & Conditions you consent to consultations being chaperoned and recorded at Insight Alpha’s Clients’ election.
Insight Alpha may invite you to participate in a Project for which your image and/or voice may be recorded and/or transcribed ('IA Recordings') by Insight Alpha or its agents, such as at a live meeting, webcast, conference call, conference, interview, or other event. You agree, notwithstanding anything else in these Terms & Conditions, that Insight Alpha (or if applicable, the Client who records their Projects as facilitated by Insight Alpha ) owns Insight Alpha Recordings and has the exclusive right to attribute Insight Alpha Recordings to you and to use, distribute, sell, reproduce, publish, reprint, modify, adapt, sublicense, and publicly display Insight Alpha Recordings, in whole or in part, in original form or as edited or modified by Insight Alpha, in all languages and forms, for any commercial or noncommercial purpose unless otherwise agreed in writing.
For any Content that you submit to Insight Alpha other than in connection with a Project for a Client, including but not limited to News submissions and presentation materials for Insiight Alpha/IAAIL seminars, roundtables, conferences and master classes, you retain ownership but grant Insight Alpha a perpetual, world-wide, royalty-free, transferable, and exclusive license to use, distribute, reproduce, publish, reprint, modify, adapt, sublicense, and publicly display such Content, in whole or in part, in original form or as edited or modified by Insight Alpha, in all languages and forms, for any commercial or noncommercial purpose unless otherwise agreed in writing.
You agree that Insight Alpha shall have the right to make and retain an audio, video or other recording of your participation in any IAAIL seminars, roundtables, conferences and master classes (collectively, Recordings), and attribute that Recording to you,. You further agree that Insight Alpha shall have the exclusive right to use, distribute, reproduce, publish, reprint, modify, adapt, sublicense, and publicly display such Recordings, in whole or in part, in original form or as edited or modified by Insight Alpha, in all languages and forms, for any commercial or noncommercial purpose unless otherwise agreed in writing.
Insight Alpha may in its sole discretion compensate IAAIL Members for submissions of News but has no obligation to do so.
You agree not to knowingly solicit Assignments directly from or propose directly any kind of consulting relationship to an Introduced Client without written permission of Insight Alpha , until one year of your last assignment with that Client or your initial introduction to that Client through Insight Alpha , whichever was later. An Introduced Client is a Client with whom you had not had a significant meeting or phone call about an Assignment or other business relationship within the three years immediately prior to Insight Alpha first introducing the Client to you. You agree that if the Client seeks to hire you for direct employment based on interactions between the Client and you and the Client contacts you, you will notify Insight Alpha immediately. In these cases, Insight Alpha may have in place a recruiter’s fee charged to the Client, via Client contract, should this occur.
You also agree not to knowingly solicit for employment any employee of Insight Alpha or any Client with whom you have completed an Assignment until one year of your termination of membership in IAAIL.
If any company informs us of their restrictive guidelines with regard to their employees providing outside Consultation, we intend to abide by it if that request is made by an authorized company representative. You agree to abide by such restrictions if Insight Alpha notifies you that your employer has placed such a restriction on your capacity to consult.
Clients are also not permitted to publicly divulge the name, opinions, or Assignment-related work product of an Expert without the Expert’s written permission. Insight Alpha may share information about you (including personal information, work history, experience, education, and the like) with our Clients (i) for Consultations, Assignments or other opportunities as described under the scope of this Agreement By registering at IAAIL, your information becomes part of our database which is shared with our Clients. If you do not wish to share your information, you should not register or submit content to our website. Insight Alpha reserves the right to summarize information about your expertise, altered to keep your name, and all contact information confidential, in our marketing materials, unless you explicitly request otherwise via your profile preferences. You consent to the recording for compliance purposes of conversations between you and Insight Alpha. You agree, to the extent permitted by applicable law, that such recordings may be submitted in evidence in any proceedings. Insight Alpha also reserves the right to perform background verification to confirm the biographical details presented by you. Regardless of your residence or nationality, you permit Insight Alpha to store data about you on computer servers in a country different than your own and you agree that your data may be accessed / processed by our staff located at our affiliates and subsidiaries worldwide for the purposes as agreed by you under these Terms and Conditions.
Insight Alpha does not participate in the Consultations between Clients and Experts, and is not responsible for the matters discussed therein. You will be expected to comply in good faith with all the provisions in these Terms and Conditions, as well as any other relevant laws, regulations, and obligations outside the scope of these Terms and Conditions. If you are concerned about conflicts with any laws, regulations, or obligations in any Consultation, you should terminate that Consultation and notify Insight Alpha immediately. You are solely responsible for your actions.
If an Expert has committed a felony, this should be communicated to Insight Alpha in writing prior to accepting an Assignment. Notification before an Assignment also is required about any substantial business-related investigation involving the Expert which might reasonably affect the Client’s decision to interact with him or her. This includes but is not limited to the possible removal of the Expert from a certifying body or certification status for his or her profession.
Violation by the Expert of Insight Alpha’s Terms and Conditions or any applicable laws governing the Expert may, without limitation, result in immediate termination of this Agreement. In addition, the Expert shall be solely liable for any legal consequences arising therefrom. Insight Alpha reserves the right to initiate legal proceedings against the Expert.
In the event that you, as a IAAIL Member, breach, or threaten to breach, any of the promises in the following sections of these Terms & Conditions: Confidentiality of Insight Alpha and Client Information, Non-Solicitation of Clients, or the terms of use of Insight Alpha websites, you acknowledge that Client and/or Insight Alpha’s remedies at law will be inadequate and that Client and/or Insight Alpha will be entitled to an injunction to prevent your prospective or continuing breach and to maintain the status quo pending arbitration provided for below.
In no event shall Insight Alpha be liable to you or any other party for any damages resulting from or relating to your participation as a IAAIL Member, the performance of any services by you as a IAAIL Member, or the business operations of Insight Alpha, including without limitation for any incidental, consequential, punitive or special damages regardless of the theory of liability and even if Insight Alpha was informed of the possibility of such damages. Insight Alpha agrees that for its part it shall not seek to impose on any individual IAAIL Member any liability for damages based on his or her performance of services hereunder as a IAAIL Member, including without limitation for any incidental, consequential, punitive or special damages, so long as such damages do not relate to or arise out of the failure of the IAAIL Member to comply with these Terms & Conditions, including the guidelines and restrictions contained herein, or conduct or activity by the IAAIL Member that constitutes gross misconduct. You are solely responsible for your actions. Insight Alpha shall have no obligation to defend you, provide you with legal counsel, or pay legal costs and expenses on your behalf.
In no event shall Insight Alpha be liable for any incidental, special, consequential, punitive damages, or any other indirect damages, resulting from your participation in Consultations or the performance of services by you as an Expert.
Insight Alpha reserves the right to change, amend, or modify these Terms and Conditions as and when necessary without advanced notice to you. We encourage you to regularly visit our website and review these Terms and definitely to do so before engaging in a project.
By becoming an Expert of Insight Alpha, you agree to be bound by the Terms and Conditions with such updates, if any, as shall be made by Insight Alpha from time to time. These Terms and Conditions and any subsequent revisions are available to you when you access our website. Updates will not become effective with respect to a Project on which you are then engaged, without your consent, but will apply to any Projects subsequent to a change in these Terms and Conditions.
Any legal issues pertaining to the relationship between you and Insight Alpha including the provisions of these Terms and Conditions shall be governed, construed, and enforced in accordance with the laws of the India.
The governing language of this agreement shall be English. If any translation of this agreement is made, the English language version shall prevail in case of any inconsistency or conflict between this English version of Terms and Conditions and its translation into another language.
Any dispute, controversy, or claim related to this agreement shall be finally settled by a one-arbitrator arbitration held in New Delhi under the rules of the Indian Council of Arbitration in effect from time to time. The arbitrator may grant any remedy that he deems just and equitable within the scope of this agreement. The award of the arbitrator shall be final and binding and judgment thereon may be entered in any court having jurisdiction. The costs and expenses (including reasonable attorney's fees) of the prevailing party shall be borne and paid by the party that the arbitrator determines is the non-prevailing party. The Experts waive any benefit applicable to them under the laws of their country of residence, whereby they may claim any interim measures of protection through the courts of their country of residence. The language to be used in the arbitral proceedings shall be English.
The failure of a party to insist upon strict adherence to any term of this agreement on any occasion shall not be considered a waiver thereof nor deprive that party of the right thereafter to insist upon strict adherence to that term or any other term of this agreement.
If any provision of this contract is found to be invalid or unenforceable, this by itself does not affect the validity or enforceability of any other provision.
Insight Alpha and/or Clients may request that you reconfirm any part of these Terms and Conditions. Each Client is an intended beneficiary of these Terms and Conditions and shall, therefore, have the right to enforce your compliance with these Terms and Condition.