Can I show client work in my portfolio? A UK freelancer's guide

Usually yes, if the contract allows it or says nothing that forbids it, and the work is not confidential. You own the copyright in what you made until you assign it in writing, signed. Putting a finished site, a film or a campaign on your own page is copying that work. If you still own it, that copy is yours to make — unless a confidentialityconfidentialityConfidentiality is a promise not to share or misuse private information. It can sit as a clause in the main contract or as a stand-alone NDA. It is not an IP assignment and it is not a non-compete.More in the glossary promise, an exclusive licence or a ban in the paper says otherwise.

Three things get mixed up in the same email thread:

• Ownership. Who holds the copyright. You are first owner unless you assigned it. See Who owns copyright in freelance work in the UK?.
• Permission to show it. A licence back to you, or silence plus ownership, is what lets a case study go live. An IP assignment does not, by itself, give that permission back.
• Confidentiality. An NDA or a confidentiality clause can stop you even when you still own the files. Unreleased and white-label work sit here.

The clean fix is a portfolio clause in the job paper, signed before you start. Publicity and portfolio use is the clause. A graphic design contract, a freelancer agreement or a videography contract is the usual paper.

Contracts for graphic designers, contracts for web designers, contracts for videographers, contracts for photographers and contracts for developers are the usual starting points. Source files are a different question: Do I have to give a client my source files?.

You do, until you assign it. Under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 s.11, the author is the first owner of copyright. The employee exception applies to employees, not to a designer, developer, photographer or videographer on a contract for services. Commissioning a logo, a site, a shoot or a film does not make the client the first owner.

CDPA 1988 s.11 is the first-owner rule:

• s.11(1). The author of a work is the first owner of any copyright in it, subject to the rest of the section.
• s.11(2). Where a literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work, or a film, is made by an employee in the course of employment, the employer is the first owner, unless agreed otherwise.

A freelancer is not working under a contract of employment. You are working under a contract for services. A logo or photograph is an artistic work. The code you write is a literary work. A film has its own authors. Section 11(1) then says the author is the first owner of each.

Paying the invoice does not move that title. Sending the files does not. A verbal “it’s yours” does not. An IP assignmentIP assignmentAn IP assignment is a transfer of ownership in named work — designs, code, photos, copy — from the person who made it to the client. Until a named event, usually payment, the maker still owns it. It is not a licence, and it is not US-style work for hire.More in the glossary is a transfer of ownership. It is not effective unless it is in writing, signed by you or someone signing on your behalf. That is CDPA 1988 s.90.

A licence is different. A licence is permission to use the work. It is not a transfer of ownership. You still own the copyright. The client may use the named uses. You may still copy the work yourself, unless that licence is exclusive. See IP licence vs assignmentIP licence vs assignmentAn IP assignment transfers ownership of copyright or other intellectual property. A licence is permission to use it; the author still owns it. In England and Wales there is no work-made-for-hire first-owner rule for freelancers: Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 s.11. An assignment must be in writing and signed: s.90. Say which you mean, and when it happens.More in the glossary.

If you still own the copyright, and the paper does not forbid portfolio use, and the work is not confidential, you can usually show the public finals. That is the default this page starts from. Write it down anyway. Silence is how a brand later says they never agreed to be named.

The longer ownership page is Who owns copyright in freelance work in the UK?. Intellectual property assignment and intellectual property licence are the clauses.

Then you need a licence back, or later written permission, before you copy the work onto your site. An assignment of the finals does not, by itself, give you a right to put the work in a portfolio. You transferred the property right. Copying it again is their right, not yours, unless the paper grants it back.

CDPA 1988 s.90 is the assignment rule. An assignment of copyright is not effective unless it is in writing signed by or on behalf of the assignor. Copyright may be assigned in whole or in part. Once that writing is signed, and it bites — usually on full payment — you are no longer the owner of those rights.

A licence back is permission to use the work you no longer own. Write it in the same paper as the assignment: named channels, the finals only, after launch, and whether you may name the client. See publicity and portfolio use.

An exclusive licence can block you even when you still own the copyright. CDPA 1988 s.92(1) is the exclusive-licence rule. An exclusive licence is a licence in writing signed by or on behalf of the copyright owner, authorising the licensee to the exclusion of all other persons, including the person granting the licence, to exercise a right which would otherwise be exercisable exclusively by the copyright owner. In Plain English: they may use those named rights, you may not, and nobody else may either, for the term you wrote. If you granted an exclusive right to copy and communicate the film or the mark, putting it on your site is using a right you promised not to use.

Moral rightsmoral rightsMoral rights are the author’s personal rights in a copyright work: to be identified as author, and not to have the work subjected to derogatory treatment. In the UK they sit in the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 ss.77–80. They cannot be assigned. They can be waived in writing, signed by the person giving them up, under s.87.More in the glossary sit beside copyright. You have the right to be identified as author, which must be asserted, and the right not to have the work subjected to derogatory treatment. Those rights cannot be assigned. They can be waived in writing, signed by you. An IP assignment that is silent on moral rights leaves them with you. Credit on a portfolio piece is a moral-rights question as well as a contract line. See CDPA 1988 ss.77, 80 and 87 and the moral rights clause.

If the paper already assigned the work and said nothing about portfolio, ask for written permission. Do not publish first and argue later. The ask is below.

Then you may not show the work until the duty no longer covers it. An NDA is a short confidentiality contract: a promise not to use or repeat named information except as the paper allows. A confidentiality clause is the same promise inside the job contract. Neither is an IP assignment. Both can still stop a case study.

Typical freelance limits:

• Unreleased work. A product, a brand, a film or a site that is not yet public. Showing it is disclosing it.
• The fact of the job. Some NDAs cover the existence of the brief, not only the files. Naming the client on your site can be the leak.
• Working files and rejected routes. Even after launch, unused options and source files often stay confidential. See Do I have to give a client my source files?.

A confidentiality promise usually ends when the information is public — because they launched, not because you posted. Write that the portfolio licence starts on their first public use, or on written consent. Silence is how a trailer goes live the week before their announcement.

An NDA you signed before the job is a separate paper. Read it. If it lasts two years and covers the deliverables, a portfolio clause in the later freelancer agreement does not automatically punch a hole in it. Align the two, or get a written waiver for the case study.

The freelancer NDA page is What NDA should a UK freelancer use?. NDAs explained is the longer explainer. Confidentiality is the clause that later sits inside the job contract. Start from a mutual NDA when both of you will talk.

Match the situation to the paper you signed. Ownership, confidentiality and the grant are three different questions. Mixing them is how a case study goes up on a still-secret launch.

White-label work is work you make that the client sells under their name, as if they made it. You are not named. A portfolio post that claims the work is yours breaks that deal, and it is often also a confidentiality problem.

None of those rows is a statute on portfolio use. s.11 and s.90 decide who owns the copyright. Confidentiality is the contract you signed. The table is how those two meet a case study.

Usage rights and credit sits next to this for bylines. Publicity and portfolio use is the clause that writes the row you want.

A working portfolio clause answers four things: where you may show it, what you may show, when the licence starts, and whether you may name the client. Agree that list on one shared draft before you start, not in a handover email afterwards.

Write:

• Where. Your website, social channels, printed showreel, award entries, pitches to new clients.
• What. The final deliverables, not unpublished options, rejected routes, working files, RAW, unused footage or source files.
• When. After the client has first used the work in public, after a named embargo, or on written consent. Launch day is the usual freelance trigger.
• Naming. Whether you may name the client as the commissioner, and whether they name you. That sits next to the moral rights assertion.
• Take-down. Whether they can require you to take a named piece down, in writing, and in what window.

A licence is permission to use the work. Here it is a licence back to you, on the copy you no longer own or on the copy you still own but promised not to disclose. Keep it non-exclusive. You are not asking to sell the work. You are asking to show the finals as an example of your own.

Example

After the Client has first used the Deliverables in public, or earlier with the Client’s written consent, the Freelancer may reproduce the final Deliverables in the Freelancer’s portfolio and on the Freelancer’s website and social channels, and may name the Client as the commissioner. This licence is non-exclusive. It does not extend to unpublished options, working files, source files, RAW, unused footage or confidential information. The Client may, before first public use, require a reasonable embargo in writing.

In Plain English: once they have used it in public, you may show the finals and name them. You may not show the routes they killed, or leak the launch. They can ask you, in writing, to wait until a named date.

If they refuse any portfolio use, that is a price issue. Some brand, agency and white-label work stays off the site. Get that in the paper before you start, not in a later brand-guidelines PDF.

Put the clause in a graphic design contract, a videography contract or a freelancer agreement. Adapt the words; do not paste them as a locked form. UK graphic design contract, UK web design contract and UK videography contract are the papers that hold this line.

Keep it off the portfolio until they use it in public, or they consent in writing. Unreleased work is still confidential even when you own the copyright. White-label work is work you make that the client sells under their name, as if they made it. You usually may not show it as yours.

Unreleased. A product still in stealth, a brand that has not launched, a wedding film the couple have not posted, a site on a staging URL. Showing any of that is disclosing it. A confidentiality clause, and often a standalone NDA, already forbids that. Write that the portfolio licence starts on their first public use. If launch slips, the case study waits. A named embargo — “90 days after delivery if they have not launched” — is a commercial choice, not a statutory rule. Write the number you will actually keep.

White-label. An agency hires you to design, shoot or build, and their client never hears your name. The work goes out as the agency’s. A portfolio post that claims it is yours breaks that deal. It also often names a brand that was never your client. Do not show white-label work unless the paper says you may, and then show it as “work for [agency]” if that is what they allowed — not as a direct case study for their client.

Rejected routes and working files. Even after launch, unused options, scamps, RAW and source files are usually not the public work. They are often still confidential. They are also a different product: see Do I have to give a client my source files? and Does a photographer have to hand over RAW files.

If the job is both unreleased and assigned, you need both a confidentiality waiverwaiverA waiver is a choice not to enforce a right this time, without rewriting the contract. Accepting late work once does not, by itself, kill a time-is-of-the-essence clause if a no-waiver line is present. Waiver is not a variation: Rock Advertising Ltd v MWB [2018] UKSC 24 still requires the agreed method for a change of terms.More in the glossary and a licence back. One email can ask for both. Do not treat a “looks great” on Slack as either.

Ask in writing. Name the piece, the channels, whether you will name them, and when you want to post. A short email is enough. Do not publish first and apologise later.

If the work is already public

Subject: Portfolio use of [project]

Hi [Name],

I would like to show the finished [logo / site / film] in my portfolio and on my website and social channels, and to name [Client] as the commissioner. I will not show unpublished options, working files or anything still confidential.

If you are happy with that, a short “yes” on this email is enough. If you would rather I wait, or show it without naming you, tell me and I will follow that.

Best, [Your name]

If you assigned the copyright

Hi [Name],

The contract assigned copyright in the finals to you. I would like a non-exclusive licence back so I can show those finals in my portfolio after your launch, and name you as the commissioner. Unpublished options and working files stay off the site.

Happy to add that as a one-line variationaddendumAn addendum is a short, written change to an existing contract, signed by both sides so the original terms stay the same except for what the addendum updates. It is not a new statement of work; it edits the job you already agreed.More in the glossary if you want it in the paper.

Best, [Your name]

If an NDA or embargo still applies

Hi [Name],

I know [project] is not public yet. When you launch, may I show the finished piece in my portfolio and name you? I will not post before that date, and I will not show unused routes.

Best, [Your name]

Keep the reply. A “yes” in email is written permission. It is not as tidy as a clause in the signed contract, but it is enough to post the finals they already made public. Next time, put the clause in the job paper before you start.

On Contracts.io both sides draft, negotiate and e-signe-signatureAn e-signature is any electronic way of showing agreement to a document, such as a typed name, a drawn signature or a click. In England and Wales an electronic signature is admissible in evidence (Electronic Communications Act 2000 s.7) and is capable of executing a document where the signer intends to authenticate it.More in the glossary one shared contract, so the portfolio line is the version you both signed. That is two-sided contracts: one paper, both sides on the same link. Describe the job in a sentence. Lex, our AI host, drafts. You share one link. Nobody emails v4_final.docx back and forth.

The client opens that link. They can Accept, Counter or Decline on the same version, then both of you e-sign it. The other side never pays and does not need an account.

Start from a graphic design contract, a videography contract or a freelancer agreement. You can also start from the AI contract generator or the contract generator.

That does not post the case study for you. It does mean the licence back, the embargo, the NDA and the IP assignment are the words you both signed, not a line lost in email.

Free £0, Plus £15/mo, Pro £29/mo, Team £119/mo for 5 seats, Enterprise from £750 — see /pricing.

Try it on contracts.io: describe the job in one sentence, share one link, and e-sign the portfolio clause before the first file goes across.

Contracts for graphic designers, contracts for web designers, contracts for videographers, contracts for photographers and contracts for developers are the wider sets of terms. Who owns copyright in freelance work in the UK? is the ownership page. Do I have to give a client my source files? is the working-files page. What NDA should a UK freelancer use? is the confidentiality page. UK graphic design contract is the design paper. Publicity and portfolio use, confidentiality and intellectual property assignment are the clauses. IP assignment, licence, NDA, confidentiality and moral rights are the glossary.