Book Publication Graphic Design Legal Advice

A) I have sent a copy of my manuscript to a graphic designer I wanted to work with without an NDA/ any form of contract signed. I now no longer want to work with him. I have evidence that the manuscript is mine and I trust he won't do anything with the work, but are there any actions I should take to ensure that he doesn't? He is based in Scotland. I am based in England.

B) The graphic designer I do want to work with is based in Australia. Do I need to issue him and NDA? Doesn't an NDA require a witness? We are in two different countries, how do we achieve this? Is it even necessary.

Thanks

I'm not a lawyer licensed in England or Scotland, so I can't really address part A.

As per part B, it can be said that:

• NDA does not require a witness and can bi signed remotely with e-signing in your case (AFAIK both UK and Australia accept electronic signatures)
• there are different schools of thought on NDAs: the conservative and the realist. The former basically says that NDAs can't hurt. The latter argues that the value of an NDA is equal to your ability to enforce it in court. And most times, due to legal costs, this is 0.
• you should use an NDA only if you really need to protect certain information. Don't use an NDA just because you heard of it.
• make sure it's common and accepted practice in your industry to ask potential partners to sign NDAs.
• BONUS: There are many boilerplate NDAs available. Don't just copy/paste the first you find. Take some time to describe the information covered and make an effort to specify a reasonable duration and geographical extension, otherwise your document is likely to be unenforceable.