If you have finished the project you are a free agent, unless you have agreed otherwise.

If you have not finished the project, but did not sign a binding contract with the consulting firm, you are a free agent.

However, by asking the question, you have expressed doubts about your status as a free agent.

Although I have sympathy with the points expressed along the lines of 'be honest with both parties', by talking to the original consultants about the offer from the client *without their permission*, you will have breached your client's confidentiality. You have no guarantees that the consultants will offer you more work - your new client will. If however, you 'know' that the consultants will NOT offer you work if you take the client's job, you need to work out the financial implications before you proceed.

"Business is business" - what will you do if the consultants never offer you any more work: never work for any of their clients?



>I have an ethical dilemma. I just finished a project for a consulting firm. During the project I did 90% of the work and built up a good rapport with the client. Now that the project has been completed, the client is asking me to work directly with them on various small tasks without going through the consulting firm. I didn’t sign a contract with the consulting firm so there is no legal reason that I couldn’t work directly with the client.
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>Should I do the work? If so, should I wait a period of time? Inform the consulting firm???