Define: Representative(s)
In a contract, Representatives means the people acting on a party's behalf, typically its officers, employees, professional advisers, consultants and contractors. The term is used to extend obligations such as confidentiality, indemnity or compliance beyond the signing party itself to everyone who acts for it in performing the agreement.
Legal accuracy standard set & glossary spot-checked by Imad Mohammed Nazar , Skadden-trained M&A lawyer, Legal Engineer at GenieAI
What Representative(s) Means in a Contract
Representative(s) is a defined term used to describe the individuals and entities who act on behalf of a contracting party. Rather than limiting duties and liabilities to the named party alone, most agreements recognize that a company or organization operates through people, so the definition typically captures officers, employees, professional advisers, consultants and contractors. This wording ensures that when the contract imposes obligations such as confidentiality, data protection, health and safety compliance or anti-bribery conduct, those obligations flow through to everyone who might reasonably act for that party.
The practical effect is that a party cannot avoid responsibility for a breach simply because the breach was caused by an employee or a hired consultant rather than the company itself. Because the term is deliberately broad, it functions as a catch-all so that no category of person acting under a party's instruction or authority falls outside the scope of the contract's protections and restrictions.
How Representative(s) Is Defined or Measured
There is no universal statutory definition of.
Relevant Circumstances
- When confidentiality or other obligations need to extend to a party's professional advisers
- If conduct of officers, employees and contractors must be governed by a contract
- Where one party is vicariously responsible for acts of its representatives